Defenders of the Archipelago
by SilenceIsGolden15
Summary: The dragons died out decades ago, everyone knows that. But when three members of their village vanish, the local hothead disappears after them, and a teenage girl intercepts a message delivered on a Terrible Terror, they are tossed into a series of events that prove you can never quite trust history.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Once upon a time, Krolia had loved the ocean. She had loved the smell of salt and the feeling of the spray against her face. But now, sailing alone in the dark and the rain, she wasn't so sure anymore.

She was so tired. Her large swollen belly made doing anything difficult, but she had to keep sailing, had to find somewhere to land, or both her and her child would be doomed. The sharp, almost intolerable pain in her mouth didn't help. The wound was still fresh, and blood filled her mouth, forcing her to swallow the coppery liquid again and again.

The deck of her boat roiled and rolled beneath her feet, forcing her to sit. She had been sailing for two or three days now, and her supply of food and water was almost gone. She had to find somewhere, and soon. But the storm and the rain and the clouds made it impossible to see anything. For all she knew, she was sailing in circles, waiting for the Kraken to emerge and take her down to the depths.

She shivered, huddled under her cloak, one arm wrapped protectively around her belly. She felt a slight kick, and her eyes filled with tears.

 _What do I do?_ She wondered. _What do I do?_

Suddenly, there was a lurch as the boat bumped against something, and Krolia barely kept herself from falling forward. Rushing to the side, she stared with blank confusion at the rock protruding from the waves like a fang.

 _Rocks… rocks… rocks mean land!_

Her blood sang with new energy. If she could get through the rock field and reach land, her and her child would be safe. Well, safer, but at least they would have a chance!

The task was monumental. The boat rammed against the rocks alarmingly, and Krolia could do little about it with such low visibility. Cold sea water sloshed over the sides, soaking her boots and her red skirts, but she paid it little heed. She had to reach the shore. She just had to.

By the time she began seeing the outlines of mountains through the fog, she was minutes from dropping out of pure exhaustion. But she kept pushing. She was so close now, she couldn't quit, she wouldn't quit.

There was a bump and a scrape as the hull of her boat pushed against the bottom of the shallow water, and Krolia stumbled out into the surf. It was freezing, and waves smashed against her backside, soaking her skirts to the waist, but she had made it. They had made it.

She collapsed into the sand. She had always hated the feeling of dirt sticking to wet skin, but now it felt heavenly. She dug her hands into it and smiled at the stormy sky, feeling her legs trembling.

"Who goes there?" A man's voice was calling, and Krolia instinctively curled into a ball, her cloak surrounding her. This island had people on it.

For a moment she panicked, fear twisting in her gut when she considered that maybe she had doubled back around, sailed in a circle and ended up right back where she started. If that had happened, she was dead, her child was dead-

 _No_. She thought firmly, shoving the thoughts away. _Stay calm. Calm._

Footsteps slid through the sand behind her, and the shadow of a man stretched across the beach. The torch he held cast an eerie, flickering light around the two of them, but it was warm at least.

"Who goes there?" he demanded again, and then roughly grabbed Krolia by the shoulder, turning her to face him. His rugged face softened when he saw the blonde woman before him, and she mentally breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't recognize him. She hadn't doubled back. Everything would be fine.

"Um…" the man, despite his heavy chainmail and his large axe, looked ridiculously apprehensive. He clearly had not been expecting to find a woman slumped on the beach in the middle of the night. "Who are you? How did you get here?"

Krolia opened her mouth automatically to answer, only for a stream of blood to pour out and drip down her chin. She frantically closed it again, trying to ignore the look of horror the man gave her. With two fingers, she tapped her lips and shook her head.

He seemed to understand, but it didn't make him less nervous.

"Ok, well, um, I guess I should take you to see the Chief, right?"

Krolia smiled gratefully and nodded, reaching out her hand. The guard returned his axe to the halter on his back and helped her up. He went about ten shades paler when he saw underneath her cloak.

"You're… oh gods, you're pregnant, we have to get you to the village."

With the man's help, Krolia ascended the hill behind the beach. The island, from what she could tell in the dark, was mostly mountains and pine forest. A chunk had been carved out of it near the water, and there was a fair sized village built of the sturdy logs that surrounded it. By the looks of it, Krolia had barely avoided sailing into the docks, which would have gone considerably less well.

The man escorted her towards the main hall, a building that towered over the rest. The other houses were fairly plain looking, but this one was decorated in carvings and colored paint, murals telling tales of great victories. The familiarity of the sight made her heart ache.

She had thought it was fairly late at night, so she was surprised to see people in the main hall with a large fire crackling behind them when her guard led her in. There were four men, seated around one of the long tables, drinking and laughing. They all went abruptly silent when the massive door squeaked open.

"Chief." said the man, lowering his torch and his head in respect.

"What is this?" bellowed one of them, getting to his feet. He was a huge man, all muscle and tough brown skin. His voice was as loud as thunder, and the glare in his one eye set Krolia's heart pounding with fear. It was only two days ago that another chief had looked at her this way, and she had barely made it out of that situation alive.

"Found her on the beach." said her companion. "She's pregnant, and I think she might be hurt. She can't speak."

The chieftains face did not change. He narrowed his eye at her, and then turned to one of the other men at the table.

"Sam, fetch parchment and charcoal." he barked, and the skinny blonde viking he had been addressing immediately scrambled to his feet and rushed off into a side room.

"Get her a seat beside the fire."

At that moment, Krolia could have cried with relief, expecting to be forced back out into the cold once more. But this chief was kinder than he looked, and he pressed a soft hand to her back as he led her to the fire. She settled into the wooden chair, her aching muscles screaming thanks, and drank in the warmth of the flames.

The chief took the chair next to her, and for the first time she allowed herself to size him up. He was wearing lighter armor than the man who had brought her here, and he had a sword tucked into his belt rather than an axe. But the armor was pressed with images, fancy swirls and patterns and sigils, clearly made for someone with high rank. Unlike most vikings, he had no beard, but his thick grey hair fell down his back in a large braid.

"I am Chief Iverson the Invulnerable." he rumbled to her in his loud voice. "Do you know what island you have landed on?"

Krolia shook her head. When she began her journey she had a vague idea of where she wanted to go, but the storm had her all turned around.

"This village is called Garrison Isle." Chief Iverson looked up as footsteps rang across the stone floor, and then the blonde man was back, handing him several sheets of yellow parchment and a stick of charcoal. "Can you write?" The question was directed to Krolia, and she gave a tired nod, sitting up a little straighter.

"What is your name?"

Krolia settled the parchment against the arm of the chair, and in shaky writing answered the question.

 _Krolia._

"Why did you come here?"

 _Looking for safety._ Here Iverson's eyes dropped to her belly, and she placed a protective hand over it, feeling the baby within kick again.

"Where are you from?"

Krolia chewed on her lip, a little blood trickling out as she considered the question.

 _I cannot say._ She wrote eventually, earning a frown from the chief. _It's not safe._

He looked vexed, but didn't express his anger. "Why can't you speak?"Carefully setting down the charcoal stick, she tilted her head back slightly and opened her mouth wide, exposing where her tongue had once sat, but did no longer. The Chief wrinkled his nose slightly, and nodded to her. He got the point.

"Chief," said the blonde one, rushing back into Krolia's vision, "She's injured, we must tend to her wound immediately! And the baby-"

"Hold on, Sam." Iverson said, holding up a hand. Sam closed his mouth obligingly, but he looked antsy. "We don't know that we can trust her yet."

Sam looked offended. "I don't think a village full of vikings has much to fear from a tired woman who's six months pregnant!" he exclaimed, waving his arms in a dramatic display that Krolia watched with amusement. "We can't turn her away!"

"I didn't say that." Iverson clipped back at him. "I just think we should be careful. This one has secrets, and may bring danger to the village." He gave Krolia a sharp look with his one eye, which Krolia was too tired to return. She just tilted her head back against the chair, trying to enjoy the heat of the fire while she could.

"Well what should we do then?"

"I'll take care of her."

The three of them turned to see one of the men from before standing beside the table. He and his companion had remained silent until now, simply watching the scene unfold with great interest. He was lean, stronger looking than Sam but not as beefy as the Chief. The one thing Krolia really noticed were his almond shaped eyes, the same as hers, but his were a light color, almost grey.

"Are you sure, Hayalson?" Iverson asked, and the man nodded. He was most unusual for a viking with his black hair shorn closely to the sides of his head, but his armor fit right in with the others.

"I can get her a place set up in the woods near me." he said, looking at Krolia while he spoke. "That way she won't be in the village, but she won't be alone either. That is, if that's what she wants."

Now all eyes were back on her, and something in her chest cracked. She had never been sociable, never liked being around people, and it was beginning to be too much. She nodded to him, beginning to feel her exhaustion seep into her bones.

"It's settled then." Iverson said, but Sam jumped in.

"Not just yet! We need to check her over first!"

Iverson rolled his eyes. "Fine." he said with a dismissive hand wave. "Take her to your wife."

There was a soft hand under her elbow, and then Krolia was being led back out into the night.

* * *

It was several days before Krolia was well enough to leave the healers home. But those few days were some of the nicest she had experienced in a long while.

The healer, Colleen, was a thin woman, all sharp jutting edges and cheekbones, but her voice was soft enough to make up for all of it. She kept her auburn hair tied up in an intricate weave of braids, piled into a bun on the top of her head. She took to Krolia right away, helping her bathe, getting her new clothing, brushing out her long light hair until it shone. The Chief wanted Krolia out in the woods with Hayalson as soon as possible, but Colleen was a spitfire, and refused to let the pregnant woman leave until she had completely recovered from her sea journey.

Krolia didn't mind. The Holt family house was warm and cozy, layered everywhere with cushions and blankets, the scent of herbs tingeing the air. They had a child, a young boy about 4 years old, who toddled about everywhere, exploring. He asked Krolia a million questions in his baby voice, and only frowned a little when she couldn't answer him. But she could bounce him on her knee, and that usually made up for it.

Finally she was well again, and Hayalson retrieved her from the healers. He led her into the woods the long way, wishing to spare her the stares of the village, and Krolia was grateful. She drank in the sounds of the forest, the slight crack of her feet stepping on dead twigs, and for the first time in a long time, her soul was quiet.

Hayalson let her stay with him while he built her her own home, in a clearing not far from his house. She insisted on helping anyway she could, and that wound up being watching his son while he worked. His little boy, Takashi, was the same age as the Holt's son. He was the spitting image of his father, down to the black hair shaved at the sides and soft smile.

The child didn't seem to mind Krolia's silence. He talked to her as though she could answer, telling her little stories about his day and mindlessly chattering on the way young children do. Sometimes he would put his hand on her belly and speak seriously to the child within, making her laugh in the process.

Within the month, Hayalson had built her a small hut. It wasn't amazing or large or luxurious, but it was hers, and it was a place she and her child could call home. And that was plenty. She immediately set about decorating and making it feel like a home, using her deft hands and keen skills with a blade to carve small tokens out of wood. Hayalson saw her work, and told her it would be a decent way to earn a living in the village. Krolia took his advice, and soon was selling full size engraved bows for ceremonies. It felt odd crafting the prize of a contest, or the tool to aid a ceremony, when she herself was not welcome within the village. But the situation was the best she could've hoped for, and she didn't complain (not that she could, even if she wanted to).

When the birthing pains came, Colleen was there to help her through it, and after a day and a half of agonizing pain, she finally had her child.

It was a boy. A little pale boy, with a shock of black hair and the deepest violet eyes. The first time he opened those eyes and looked at her, she sobbed. Colleen had been alarmed, and tried to take her son from her, but she wouldn't let him go. She clung to her baby and cried, cried until she could cry no longer. When Colleen asked, pushing a piece of parchment towards her, she told the truth.

 _He looks just like his father._

It was tradition in this village not to name children until their first birthday, just in case a disease got them before then. But she wasn't from this village. In her clan, names were important, they were everything a person was condensed into a single word. So she named him, and wrote it on a piece of parchment that she hung above his crib. His name was Keiitmaril.

Colleen couldn't seem to say it right. Nor could Hayalson, or Sam. They all butchered it, ruined the delicate roll of the R or the musical lilting I's. So she found herself mouthing it to him day and night, trying to whisper it in his ear over and over, like a prayer. But she couldn't say it either, and every time her lips formed the letters, her heart broke a little bit more.

Hayalson and Colleen visited her often, and sometimes Hayalson would bring Takashi. The little boy took to the baby right away, cradling him gently in his arms. He didn't often cry, but when he did Takashi was right by Krolia's side, trying to soothe him with small sounds and funny faces. Of course, he couldn't manage the baby's given name either, and after several failed attempts, twisted his mouth unhappily.

"I'm gonna call you Keith." he decided, and the infant gurgled happily at him. Krolia tried to smile, but her heart ached. That night, she sat down with a sheet of parchment and a stick of charcoal, and she wrote a letter.

 _Thace-_

 _I am safe. I cannot tell you where, or how, but know that we are both safe. Me, and my son. There are friendly souls here that have helped me, and will continue to do so. Please don't be worried._

 _What I can tell you is that here, they do not name their children at birth, and think me odd for doing so. And try as they might, gods bless them, they cannot say his name. Forgive me for saying so, but if by some terrible circumstance the two of you meet, please tell him his name._

 _His name is Keiitmaril._

 _Do not reply to this letter, nor expect another one. This is the only one you will receive. Just know that we are safe._

 _Your Closest Friend-_

 _Krolia._

(A/N Hey guys, this fic was cowritten with AO3 user Goddessgirl. She came up with basically the entire plot, helped me write the dragons, did about 40% of the writing, and beta'd the whole thing, so if you like the story head over there and check out her other stuff! Portions written by her with be labelled for your viewing convenience.

UNC-

Silence)


	2. Chapter 2

Keith sat at the highest point in the village, the hill that crested over the cove in which the village had nestled it's docks. It was quiet up here, the wind the only sound. More importantly, no one was around to bother him.

His fingers picked at the grass, an anxious habit he had picked up while sitting here these past three days. He was watching the horizon, hoping and praying for the familiar sails of the Holt's merchant ship to appear there. But they didn't, and every day that passed only compounded the growing fear in his gut.

Shiro should have been home a week ago. The trading missions never took more than a fortnight, but they were going on three weeks now, and still no sign of the small merchant crew.

He tried not to be anxious. His mother, Shiro's father, Colleen; they all told him there was nothing to worry about. Probably just bad weather. That's what they all said, but Keith knew in his gut that wasn't it. So every day he sat and he stared at where the sky met the sea, and he prayed; but as of yet his prayers remained unanswered.

"Why are you making me climb all the way up here?"

Keith turned his head, recognizing the voice carried up by the wind. It was Katya, the Holt's other child, and she wasn't alone.

"Because neither you or Keith are taking care of yourselves, and I can't watch you both when you're halfway across the village." The other voice was that of Hunk, the son of the shipmaster's. The top of his head crested the hill a full three seconds before Katya's.

Keith smothered his sigh and turned his eyes back to the horizon, trying his best to ignore the two as they approached. But Hunk was having none of that.

"Keith!" The bigger boy was exuberantly waving his arm, as if Keith was on the other hill of the cove; while Katya stood barely contained next to him.

"Go away Hunk." he yelled back, not bothering to hide his irritation.

"Nope, sorry, no can do." He was carrying a basket in his free hand, swinging lightly as they ascended the hill. When they drew close enough to speak without yelling, Katya gave him a chagrined smile.

"I know how you feel, buddy." she said ruefully, briefly patting Keith's shoulder before she turned to her larger companion. "I was in the middle of some _very important_ work at the forge."

"Yeah yeah yeah whatever, it's lunchtime and I know neither of you will eat without me nagging you. So I've made some very special mutton sandwiches, and I won't have them go to waste so get to eating."

Keith huffed, but didn't argue anymore as Hunk and Katya settled into the grass next to him. Hunk distributed the large sandwiches and though the other two tried to act unwilling, once they took a bite they were tearing into them like starved dragons.

"Woah, woah!" Hunk cried with a chuckle. "They're not going anywhere, guys."

"Sorry." Katya mumbled with her mouth full. "I haven't eaten since dinner."

"Dinner when?" Katya averted her eyes to the sandwich, not wanting to state the obvious. Hunk looked questioningly at Keith, but he just ignored him and kept eating.

"You can't keep doing this." Hunk sighed, reluctantly turning back to his own food. "It's not healthy."

"Whatever." Keith muttered flippantly, shoving the last bite of his mutton into his mouth.

Hunk was silent for a moment, biting his lip, but he decided it was worth saying.

"Sitting up here isn't going to make them come back any sooner."

Both Keith and Katya tensed up and exchanged a look. Then, with a scowl, Keith got to his feet. Somewhere in his head he knew Hunk was right, but that didn't mean he had to admit it.

"Come on, Pidge." he said, holding out a hand to the younger girl and helping her up. "You need to finish what you were working on."

"No, she doesn't!" Hunk exclaimed, but the two of them were already making their way back down the hillside. "The two of you are impossible!"

Keith made a rude gesture, and they continued on to the village.

* * *

The sun was dipping behind the western cliffs by the time Keith stepped out of the forge. The smoke had been stinging his eyes for hours, and his lungs ached; but he never minded. He loved watching Katya work, the ringing of metal on metal and the heat of molten metal was air was chilly as twilight swept over the village, making his arms prickle with goosebumps even under his long sleeves. As he headed into the forest it grew darker, the night time atmosphere soothing his frayed nerves.

He couldn't stop thinking about Shiro. He had been sailing with Sam and Matt Holt as their bodyguard for a few months now, and not once had he been this late returning home. And no matter what anyone said, he knew something wasn't right.

He sighed and kicked a stick out of his path. At least Katya was on his side. She could feel it just like he could; that something had happened to her brother and her father. Still, even with her brains, they were stuck on the island. They couldn't _do_ anything.

Not for the first time, Keith imagined stealing a boat. Packing some weapons and some food and sailing off after them. Though the thought of leaving his mother behind always halted him in his tracks. So he buried his plans and his frustration and his fear and tried to keep going like there was nothing wrong.

When he finally reached the small shack he called home, it was cold and dark. Most likely his mother was visiting with Hayalson. She would be home soon enough, so he lit a candle and collapsed onto his bed. The knots and whorls of the timbers that made up the ceiling were familiar to him, and it gave him slight comfort, though not nearly enough.

He always missed Shiro when he was on his trips, even when they were on time. Shiro had been there his entire life, they were more like brothers than friends. He was the one that taught him how to read and write, he was the one that pulled him out of his first fight when he was thirteen, he was the one that comforted him when his mother finally told him what happened to his father. Despite all of this, despite always missing him, it had never felt quite like this.

Keith had never felt this awful, all-encompassing _wrongness_ before. No one would listen to him, the unsociable son of the village outcast. But he _knew_.

His stomach twisted, and he clenched his blanket in his fists. Panic crawled over his skin, feeling like the limbs of a hundred spiders. He couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't just sit here, useless on the island, when Shiro was lost out there somewhere, suffering gods know what.

 _Damn it_.

Before he could think about it any harder, he threw himself to his feet and snatched his satchel from its peg on the wall. Just as he began shoving food into it, he heard the door to the shack swing open behind him. He knew his mother was there, he could feel her eyes, but he refused to look at her. If he looked, he would stop, and he couldn't stop.

"I'm sorry." he said quickly, tossing in a flint and tinder and a few candles, ignoring how his voice and hands shook. "I'm sorry, Mom, but I have to go. Something's happened to Shiro, I know it, I can _feel_ it, and I can't just sit here and do nothing."

She grabbed his arm, making him look at her, and signed his name authoritatively. The hand symbol for _K_ , brought down swiftly. He pulled away before she could keep going. The guilt was making him feel sick.

"I'm sorry." he choked out again, turning towards his bed. Krolia trailed after him, making the sign for his name over and over.

 _Keith, Keith, Keith_.

He dropped to his knees, clawing out the copper practice sword he kept under his bed. It was blunt, the metal soft, and wouldn't protect him from much. Still, better than nothing.

He tried to push past his mother without looking at her, but she planted herself firmly in front of him and wouldn't let him move another inch. The sign language Pidge had created for her flowed easily across her fingers with nary a pause or a stutter.

 _I'm not going to stop you_.

His eyes widened and shot up to meet hers. She gave him a watery smile. Her eyes were wet, but the tears refused to fall.

 _I know how deeply you care about Shiro, and I understand why you feel the need to do this. I can't stop you, but maybe I can help._

Keith's face creased into a confused frown. "Help me? How?"

With a knowing curve to her lips, she held up a finger and made her way across the small room to the foot of her bed. There lay an ornate chest, easily the most valuable thing in the house. It was a present from Hayalson earlier that year for Krolia's fortieth birthday.

Kneeling down, she unlocked it with the key she kept around her neck. Then with trembling, reverent fingers, she lifted something out, and Keith's breath caught in his throat.

It was a sword. And judging by the fine leather the scabbard was made of, it was a _really nice_ sword.

"Mom, what is…"

She pressed it into his hands, still wearing that sad smile. Once he had a grip on it, she began signing again.

 _It was meant to be a gift for your 18th birthday_.

Looking closer, Keith could see something pressed into the leather. It took him a moment to see in the dim light, but once he did, tears sprung into his eyes. Engraved in the leather, in delicate, swirling print, was his name.

His true name.

He dragged the pads of his fingers over the indentions and looked up at his mother, who was watching him with heartbreak in her eyes. She mouthed his name, lips delicately forming the letters, and in that moment all Keith wanted was to hear her say it.

A tear streaked down his cheek, and she wiped it away with a gentle thumb. Pulling his head down to her level, she pressed a kiss to his forehead.

 _Go on_ , she signed when he looked back up. _But that sword was expensive, so you had better come back if you know what's good for you_.

Still clinging to the sword, Keith drew his mother into a tight hug, which she returned with desperation. They stood there for a long moment, holding each other tightly, and then Keith made himself pull away. And he made himself walk out the door. And he made himself not look back.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Katya couldn't decide if she was furious or scared out of her mind, but in any case she had been working at the forge for nearly 6 hours now. Everyone around her was disappearing without a trace, she felt blindsided and unaware. She hated it. So she kept hammering out swords and axes, fiddling with her own little projects; anything to keep her mind occupied. Because if she let her mind stray to her missing family and stupid _impulsive_ Keith she was going to upturn the whole vat of dunking water and scream. The blacksmith could sense her anger and stayed on the other side of the forge, dutifully carving out arrowheads and trying not to draw her ire. He sighed heavily when the youngest McClain boy walked in, accompanied by the Garrett kid. Lance was surely not going to help this situation.

"Hey Pidge, what's up? My brother wanted to know where you were. Molly gave birth this morning and you were supposed to help with the foal."

No answer, sans the furious hiss of the molten hot sword going into the water.

"I mean I know you don't like doing the farm work that much but we still need you, Axel has gone off and gotten himself married so he's been building them a house. Flipping idiot made it massive so Bowie had to go help him, else it wouldn't be done before winter. So we're short handed right now and you're off fiddling in the forge again."

Pidge hadn't said a word the whole time, only focused on hammering out the sword, hitting it slightly harder than necessary; what with the incessant chatter in her ears.

"Uh Katya, are you ok?" Hunk stepped forward to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but with a withering glare from the small girl he quickly retracted his hand.

"No Hunk I'm not ok. My father and brother have been gone for weeks and no one seems to care. My mother is so anxious she's actually made _herself_ sick, so I've had to help with the healer duties at night. And I went up to go say hi to Keith this morning and he's gone too! I have no idea where he went but I can only imagine. Everything around me is going wrong and I have absolutely no control over it and Lance wants me to sit around his farm and do all _his_ chores! He's a young able-bodied viking I'm sure he could do it just as well but no! He'd rather go make goo-goo eyes at the baker's daughter!" Katya had grown so angry at this point that she had hit the sword out of shape. She stared at it for a moment before throwing it across the room into the scrap pile with a snarl.

Hunk was staring at his friend quite alarmed, he had never seen her this angry. But he was about to see her get angrier, because Lance just had to open his mouth.

"Keith ran off? What an idiot, I bet he's gonna get himself ki-" Lance's casual comment was cut off by the unearthly shriek Katya let out before hurling herself at him, small calloused hands going for his face. She nearly made it too, had Hunk not stepped in between the two and grabbed her. Well, attempted to grab her. She was wriggling and thrashing in his grasp trying to get to Lance.

"Lance what's wrong with you!"

"What do you mean what's wrong with me! What's wrong with him disappearing without a trace!"

"Lance shut up! She's kicking really hard and there are so many weapons in here that she can hurt you with! Now apologize."

"Apologize? What are we little kids?"

"Lance!"

"Katya, I'm sorry for stating the obvious."

" _Lance._ "

"Ok jeez. Pidge I am truly sorry for saying that, and I'm sorry for making you do all my chores. It's not fair." She stopped from where she had managed to get up on Hunks shoulder and took a deep breath.

"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me I have to replace that sword."

"You know Katya, all this workin' is great for the tribe in all but it's not bringin' your family back any sooner." The forgemaster didn't move or stand from where he sat, but his authority drew all eyes to him as he spoke. Lance cautiously stepped forward and turned Katya to the open door of the forge.

"That's really why we came here to see you, we're worried about you; you just need to relax."

"You're right."

"I am?"

"No, not you. Him, I'm _not_ gonna help my family by working here." Without another word Katya started walking out of the forge, ignoring the questions from her friends. As the two boys left to follow Katya, the forgemaster sighed.

 _Finally some peace and quiet._

Katya had managed to shake off Hunk and Lance by weaving through the busy marketplace; she was small and they were oblivious so it was easy. She made a quick detour to her house to pick up old books and maps before trekking to the great hall. It was a little known fact but the tribe did have an archive, there were in fact books open for the public to read. Unfortunately no one but Katya seemed to care about reading. Today that meant that she had a room of knowledge all to herself that she knew no one would bother her in.

She deposited her supplies on the table and went to work. Referencing the many maps her father had accumulated over the years, Katya began drawing out her own map of the archipelago. She was going to find out where her family went _before_ she left to save them, _Keith._ Wanting to make the map as up to date and informative as possible, she began exploring weather patterns in an old tome. When that proved futile she moved to another book detailing the many tribe strifes over the past couple hundred years. She felt her progress halt abruptly when the book stopped archiving 50 years before. Katya knew this book had recently been written, as it was commissioned by the chief, who was obsessed with staying _out_ of conflict. So why would the book stop so recently? With not even a mention of the mass disappearance of dragons over the past few decades.

Katya began working backwards; she found out where the author was from, then what tribes had most recently, as recent as 51 years, fought with them. This took her on a long journey through tomes and scrolls before coming upon a journal from the wife of one of the famed Dragon Riders, Alfor the Adventurous.

 _Year 35 in the Age of the Boneknapper_

 _It's been many moons since Alfor has confronted Zarkon about his strange behaviours. Paranoia, aggression, secrets, all curious behaviours from his closest friend. They have not yet mended the rift and I fear it grows larger with each passing day. But I have discovered something quite strange. I rode with my husband and the other dragon riders when they saved an island of Thunderdrums from an aggressive pack of Speed Stingers. It was a simple mission and the Speed Stingers were safely relocated, but when Alfor and I passed over it mere days later, the island was empty. We stopped to examine the site and found nothing but dragon scales and broken arrows. It was hard to think of anything that could wipe out a whole island of dragons, but when we found a Galran iron net tangled in a tree we knew what had happened._

Katya didn't really understand what these actions implied, but she had the name of a seemingly aggressive tribe, and that was good enough for her. She dove back into her research, focusing solely on the Galra tribe. She found very little useful text on her subject, except for a few maps given to her father by traders which had notes detailing how to avoid Galran ship paths. But if these were here, then that probably meant that her father had forgotten this advice. If they had indeed interceded in the path of these ships, Katya couldn't guess what would have happened. But the minimal references on the tribe she had found led her to believe that nothing good could have come from such an encounter.

She felt assured in her research's findings, but she knew that nothing official would come of it. If the Galra were as aggressive as they were described then Chief Iverson would never mount an attack against them. And she alone could not defeat an entire army. So ultimately she was back where she started, highly aware but less than prepared. She couldn't think of any advantages that she could pull from the pages surrounding her, she had already found every useful scrap of knowledge in the tribes pitiful archive. So with nothing more to accomplish, Katya gathered her books, maps, and the journal of the rider's wife and walked home.

A full month had passed since her frantic research session, and she had grown no less frantic. With the knowledge of what her father and brother could be experiencing she felt so stir crazy that she was afraid her own skeleton would leap from her skin and run away. One night, like so many nights before, she was up late pouring over the maps she had made in vain, when a sudden knocking on the door startled her bad enough to nearly knock over the candle. She stood up and rubbed at her eyes, ready to assist whatever poor viking needed the healer this late in the night. She was of course surprised to see Lance on the other side of the door.

He was out of breath but grinning wildly, "Katya you'll never believe it! So I was walking back from the Edelstein farm and I saw a dragon!"

"What?"

"A dragon! One of those little ones, I don't remember what they're called but they used to carry messages an-"

"A Terrible Terror?! You saw a Terrible Terror?"

"Uh yeah I think wh-" Katya quickly pushed past Lance and into the night, quickly running to the Great Hall. And leaving behind a very confused Lance.

As Katya approached the Great Hall she looked up in the sky more often than she looked down at the ground, hoping to spot the Terrible Terror. She knew they used to carry messages in the time of dragons, she could only hope that such a strange sight as a dragon brought news of her family. Unfortunately the creature didn't seem to be outside, but the Great Hall door was cracked, allowing flickering firelight to fall across the cobblestone. She crept closer to the large doors and tried to see what was going on inside.

The chief and his council were gathered around a table with the aforementioned Terrible Terror sitting upon it. She watched as the idiot men debated as to who would remove the scroll from the creature's paw. The debate went on for so long that she was tempted to volunteer herself, when the chief finally took the task upon himself. He deftly reached out and untied the scroll, but he wasn't quick enough to avoid the bite the dragon gave him. He yelled rather unimpressively and waved his arm until it gave up and let go. With the attention now drawn to the scroll the small dragon had the chance to crawl back to the door, and without missing a step it climbed up Katya's nightgown and onto her shoulder. Katya was so engrossed in trying to overhear the council's conversation that she gave little mind to the small fiend on her, except to reach up and scratch underneath its chin.

"What does it say chief?"

"It's from the Holt boy," Katya barely contained her excited squeal. "He says their trading boat was captured by the Galra two months ago. They've been forced to try and train dragons, with bodily harm imminent always. And when they didn't succeed the three of them were sent to a type of coliseum but Takashi pushed him overboard. So now he is safe but is requesting back up in saving Samarlend and Takashi."

"What should we do?"

"Nothing." A horrified gasp from Katya was concealed only by the convenient crackling of the fire. "Starting a fight with the Galra is the dumbest thing we could possibly do. They have more men, bigger ships, and every dragon in the archipelago. We're not risking our lives for two men, valued as they are, they do not equal a whole villages worth of people." Katya couldn't listen to this anymore, she fled down the stairs of the Great Hall and all the way back home. The Terrible Terror coiled around her neck so as not to fall off.

Katya burst into her home shaking with the new knowledge; her family and Shiro were alive and the Galra had them; and the chief was going to do _nothing_. She knew that by herself she was no match for the Galra's might, but if she found her brother maybe then they could at least free the other two. She was so busy pacing and muttering to herself that she didn't even hear her mother get out of bed.

"Katya dear, please come to bed, you're ruining the floors with your constant pacing…" Her mother trailed off mid-thought, distracted by the small dragon wrapped around her daughters neck. "Katya."

"Yes mother?"

"Where did you find that?"

"Well, Mat sent it with a message."

"Mat is alive? And he found a dragon?" Her mother seemed instantly unsteadied by the new information, her world suddenly turned rightside up after it seeming wrong for so long.

"Yes and father too." At this point her mother had had to sit, crying tears of relief. "But the chief isn't going to do anything to save them, and I'm sure Keith has already gotten lost or something. So I think…I have to try and save them." Her mother's tears flowed quickly as she talked and once she finished she walked forward to draw Katya into a hug.

"Brave little Katya, whatever shall we do with you. Surely you would not stop if I asked you to. You are too daring to just stay at home with your mother." Katya leaned into the warm hug, in truth she did want to stay at home with her mother. But she was the only one that could save them. So she drew away slowly and cautiously started packing a bag, her arms feeling like those of a stranger, packing a bag to sail away from the only home she's ever known.

As she packed, her mother went back into her room, Katya assumed so that she wouldn't have to see her only daughter leave, but instead she came out with a pair of sharp scissors.

"You mustn't travel looking like that Katya, the ocean is far more dangerous for young girls than for young boys. Sit down, I shall fix it." Katya did as she was told and sat at her desk chair, carefully unwrapping the dragon from her neck as she did. She tried to place it on the desk but it immediately moved to curl up in her lap. So as her mother began cutting large chunks of her long auburn hair off, she scratched underneath the little things chin, glad for the distraction. Once her hair was cut and she was wearing Mat's old clothes, she finished packing her bag. One last long hug goodbye and she was off to steal a boat.

Cresting the back hill of the dock cove Katya could hear Hunk and Lance talking, big mouthed Lance seemed to have to tell everyone about his dragon sighting. "It was real little but it was real fast! And it flew right into the Great Hall, I went to go tell Pidge but she just ran away. I guess she wanted to see for herself."

"Lance it's nighttime. I know you farm kids don't know the meaning of sleep but around here we hold it in high regard so if you'll excuse me." Lance didn't stop talking though, so kind hearted Hunk stayed outside despite his desire to sleep. So Katya needed a way to get them out of the area. She thought for a moment, and with the sound of Lance prattling on about the little dragon she formulated a plan. She gently put her bag on the ground and withdrew the sleeping dragon from within. A quick scratch under the chin and the Terrible Terror was stretching into her touch.

She retracted her hand and held it up to look her in the eye, "I'm gonna send you to distract those guys, you're gonna fly about and draw their attention. Then once I'm out on the boat you can come back. Ok little Rover?" The dragon cocked it's head and flapped its wings, so Katya could only hope that understood. So in one swift movement Katya threw the dragon out into the night air, and after a moment of recollection it flew at the two boys like a Night Fury of old.

This was Katya's chance. She darted from the top of the hill and ran as fast as she could to the smallest fishing boat, it was the most she could handle sailing wise. She listened as well as she could as Hunk and Lance were "attacked" by the little dragon. Hiding behind a barrel she chuckled as Rover pulled at Hunks headband. But she couldn't hide for long, so she quietly tiptoed through the dock till she was in front of her chosen vessel. She was on and untying the boat without a hitch, until suddenly Rover was alighting on her shoulder; and Hunk was grabbing the receding rope.

Say what you will about the boy, but he was serious about his mothers' business. And Katya saw that seriousness in full effect when he turned around to face her.

"Hey kid what do you think you're doing here so late at night? If you've come to steal a boat then you've got another thing comin."

Katya took a second to revel in her disguise but her moment of pride cost her any chance of escaping. Hunk had since passed off the rope to Lance and was bodily lifting her out of the boat, his grip unfaltering even as she kicked and Rover squawked. Pidge supposed he had many years of practice of containing her as she struggled and kicked; she was stubborn sometimes. Once she was up and out of the boat she was tossed upon the old dock boards with the expected aggression towards a thief. But as Hunk approached her in the pale moonlight he finally got a good look at her face.

"Pidge?"

"Yep."

"That's Pidge?!" Hunk and Katya turned to stare at Lance who looked completely astonished. "But her hair is all gone!"

"It's called a haircut Lance." Hunk had since hauled her up and was nervously checking her for injuries.

"Ok but Pidge why did you cut your hair? Why are you stealing a boat?"

Katya took a deep breath and stepped away from Hunk's hovering hands before proclaiming, "Because I'm going to go save my family, and Takashi, and Keith." She quickly explained all that she had found out and revealed how she attained the small dragon to the boys. They were distracted momentarily by the astonishing story but Lance quickly recovered.

"Pidge you can't do this. You'll get killed by those Galra or whatever. You can't save them all by yourself."

Katya mulled the sentiment over for a moment before coming to an exciting conclusion. "Then you guys should come with me!"

"What?" Hunk and Lance were stunned by the notion, so much so that Hunk didn't even react when the dragon began crawling up his arm.

"Yeah totally, you should come with me! We can save all of them together and it'll be an exciting adventure. We'll be the hero's, we'll probably find even more dragons, and once we return we'll be celebrated throughout the village!" Katya had no idea if any of this was true but as she talked more and more she could see Lance changing his mind.

"You're right! This'll be awesome! And when I save Keith I can rub it in his face that he needed _me_ to save him." Lance was totally convinced but Hunk stood silently looking back at his house. "I really want to help you guys, but I can't just leave my moms. They'll be worried sick, and I won't be around to help them and…"

"Hunk they'll be fine, no one's bothered them for years. And it's true that I can't say they'll be thrilled that you're leaving, but given time they'll understand why you had to go." Lance had already left to go grab his own supplies from home and it was just the two of them on the dock, looking at the little dock house. The tiny Terrible Terror yawned up at the sky and Hunk gently deposited him back in Katya's arms. He stared down at his friend, not really looking at her before nodding firmly.

"Ok, I'll come with. But only because I would never forgive myself if something happened to you guys. And neither of you can sail to save your life, so you really need me." Katya nodded along because it was true, she couldn't properly sail and Lance only knew horses. So Hunk went off to leave a note and pack his bags and Katya boarded a slightly bigger fishing boat. Now with her friends by her side, her task didn't seem so daunting.

(A/N This chapter brought to you by Goddessgirl over on AO3, go check her out!

UNC-

Silence)


	4. Chapter 4

Things had been going fine... for the first day. But the second sunrise brought heavy gray clouds, and soon after thunderous, pouring rain. The wind completely died down, leaving Keith huddled miserably in the hull of his ship with his hair stuck uncomfortably to his skin. He had never felt more like a soaked, grumpy cat.

The day was a haze of mist, the setting of the sun so gradual he didn't notice until it was almost pitch black. And of course, at that moment, the wind began to pick up again. Though now it was so strong it tossed his boat to and fro as though it was made of paper.

By the time night fell completely the wind was howling like an unsettled spirit, and the rain felt like needles pounding into his flesh. At first he tried to keep his small boat on course, but after several rope burns and the realization that he didn't even know where he was going in the _first damn place_ , he gave up.

As the night marched on, the storm grew ever angrier, as though the gods were trying to punish him for his rash decision. Waves the size of his vessel carried water into his boat faster than he could dump it out.

 _This is bad, this is really really really bad._

The next time a wave slammed against his boat, one side tipped perilously, forcing Keith to scramble for a hold on the rain slick mast. His cold, stiff fingers almost weren't strong enough, and only the burst of adrenaline from seeing the froth beneath saved him from toppling overboard.

"Odin's dick!" he swore vehemently, reaching back to make sure his sword was still in place. Thankfully it was, but a sword wasn't going to help him if he drowned.

Gods, he was such an _idiot_ , going out here with no destination or plan or backup. He couldn't even _sail_ that well, what in Hel's frozen wasteland was he _thinking?!_

Another wave washed into the boat, and Keith barely kept himself upright. When it had receded, he shook out his hair and stared despairingly into the cloudy sky.

 _Is running off on a daring quest and then drowning the second night good enough to get into Valhalla?_

The thought was idle, but he still felt the kick in his gut at idea of death. Shiro was still out there somewhere, he couldn't just leave him. What if he came home and Keith wasn't there? He couldn't die, not now, and certainly not by drowning.

He was utterly soaked once more as another wave swept in, prying a startled screech from his throat. He absolutely _hated_ the ocean.

The waves were coming faster now, and bigger, and his boat was steadily filling with more and more seawater. He was barely managing to keep himself inside, though with the amount of water within there was hardly a difference. His vessel listed dangerously to the side, and he clenched his jaw so tightly he nearly expected it to shatter. He couldn't stay here. If he stayed in his floating coffin, he was going to drown. Of course, if he took the risk of abandoning ship, he could also drown. Pretty much all of his options included drowning.

One more freezing slosh of water was enough to convince him. At least if he was in the water the wind wouldn't be chilling him.

 _The sword is too heavy, I need something to float on_.

Leaving the sword behind was absolutely _not_ an option. He frantically looked through the water standing in the hull, looking for anything that would float, but once again he was out of luck, because he _hadn't thought to bring anything_.

"Faen." he muttered, wrapping a fist around one of the small braids in his hair and pulling slightly in irritation. "Faen, faen, _faen ta deg,_ Keith. You _dumbass!_ " With nowhere else to look, his eyes settled on the horizon. He blinked once, twice, and wiped the water out of his eyes. But it was still there when he looked again.

The large black shape on the horizon, just a shade darker than the surrounding ocean. Land? Possibly. Or he could be going mad and hallucinating in his desperation. Still, better than nothing.

Frantically, bracing himself against the mast, he began to pull off his boots. If he was going to make it to the island with his sword, he had to get rid of as much excess weight as possible.

He removed the sword, just for a moment as he shed his leather chestplate. He felt a little bad leaving it, it wouldn't be easy or cheap to get another one, but that was a problem for a different day. When he wasn't in danger of being devoured by the Kraken.

Fastening his sword firmly on his back, Keith stepped up to the edge of the boat and squared his shoulders. It was now or never. So with one deep breath, he threw himself into the waves.

* * *

He woke with a terrible burning in his lungs, coughing up seawater into the sand.

 _Huh, so it was land. Lucky me._

Sand was sticking to him everywhere, clinging to his red tunic, itching in his hair, grinding between his teeth. The light pressing against his eyelids and the warmth drying his clothes uncomfortably to his skin told him it was daytime. Vaguely, he remembered finding his way to shore; and promptly collapsing in exhaustion. His muscles still burned with the effort of fighting through the waves to the beach, and despite the irritation of the sand, he pressed his cheek against the ground.

 _I'm never going on a ship again._

Barely, over the crashing of the waves, he heard the crunching of sand beneath boots. But before his tired brain could comprehend what that sound meant, the footsteps had stopped; right next to him.

He lay perfectly still, hoping to maintain the element of surprise over his opponent. His face cooled slightly as the person's shadow passed over him, and he held his breath, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

There was a slight tugging on his back, and his eyes flew open in panic. The sword! He reacted on instinct, shooting out a hand and grabbing a fistful of tunic from whoever had knelt down next to him. The person gave a cry of alarm, and he pulled, yanking the person right off of their feet and over the top of him. Using his other arm to push against the sand, he flipped the two of them over again, ending up straddling their middle with his hands inches from their throat.

For a moment, the reflection of the sun off of the sand was too bright, and he couldn't see who he had pinned. But the adrenaline was still pumping, the threat of danger still singing in his veins, and he reached up and back for his sword.

"Keith?!" the person underneath him yelped, and his hand paused, barely brushing the hilt of the blade. This person knew his name. How…?

"Keith, is that you?" Keith blinked dumbly a few times, and a face finally began piecing itself together as the haze of adrenaline lifted. Amber eyes, auburn hair, soft cheeks. But the voice didn't fit, it was too deep.

"M-Mathias?" he stammered, arm trembling but not lowering. "What?"

Despite Keith's intimidating position, Katya's brother gave him a toothy grin. He looked a little scrawnier than the last time Keith had seen him, but strangely wasn't much the worse for wear, despite being missing for almost a month.

"Matt." The realization finally sunk in, and something was expanding in his chest, but he couldn't tell if it was hope or fear. His hand finally dropped, away from the sword, only to drag him up by his tunic. "Matt, where's Shiro? What happened to Shiro? Is he here with you? Wh-"

"Woah there buddy, calm down." Matt brought his hands up between them in a placating gesture, and Keith released him, moving back and off of the older man. His head felt a little fuzzy, probably from the sudden rise and fall of adrenaline, and he couldn't think. If Matt was here, where was Shiro?

"Why don't we start with you. How did you get here?"

Keith shook his head, little grains of sand raining down over his shoulders. "No, Matt, tell me where Shiro is, I need to-"

"Mathias!" Both of their heads turned towards the new voice, coming from somewhere behind the hill that descended to the beach. "Mathias, where have you gone?"

"Coming, Allura!" he yelled back, then turned to Keith, who was staring at him in utter confusion. "Look, Keith, you're not looking so good. You should come back with us, and we can-"

"Us?" Keith interrupted, dull panic twisting in his stomach. "Who is 'us'? Who's Allura?"

"Keith, just-"

"Faen ta deg, Matt, tell me where Shiro is!"

"Mathias, what on Earth is going on here?" The voice was much louder now, and Keith's gaze shot up over Matt's shoulder. Coming down the hill towards them was a tall, dark skinned woman, silver hair billowing out behind her. Her face darkened when she saw Keith, and her skirts whipped furiously about her ankles as she hastened towards them.

Keith stumbled and tripped his way to his feet, grasping blindly for his sword. The whole thing looked disappointingly clumsy, but he was far too worked up to care. However, the graceless movement did nothing to reduce the wicked shine that reflected off the edge of his blade as he drew it.

"Keith, no, it's ok-"

He tried to find his proper stance, but with the sand squishing in between his toes and the surf lapping at his heels, he couldn't quite manage it. Still, he kept his eyes focused on the woman, who had finally paused on the edge of the hill.

"Mathias…" her voice was dark and warning, and Matt snapped his head around to look at her.

"It's fine, Allura, I know him, he's just a little freaked out." The woman, Allura, narrowed her eyes at their unexpected visitor, but didn't advance any further.

Matt turned back to Keith, amber eyes softening as he held out a hand once more in an attempt to calm him, like he was a wild animal. He began to speak, but Keith cut him off.

"Matt, please, just tell me where Shiro is." His voice cracked on the word 'please', and Matt's expression fell.

"He's not here, ok?" he said gently. "He's not here. I can explain, if you just-"

For the second time in about ten minutes, adrenaline crashed out of his system, and his arms sagged, the tip of his sword digging into the ground. This was all too much, too quickly, and the next thing he knew he was throwing himself to his knees, vomiting sea water into the sand.

"Oh, my." he heard Allura cry, and two sets of footsteps crunched across the beach towards where he knelt, the waves soaking his clothes all over again. He was shaking, and his legs refused to support him, but he still kept a firm grip on his weapon.

"Keith." Matt's voice was soft as he lay a hand on Keith's shoulder. "Why don't you come with us, ok? We can get you some food, and you can tell us how you got here."

Bitter disappointment coated his tongue. Shiro wasn't here, so it really didn't matter what he did next, did it? But despite the tiredness in his limbs and the urge to just give up, he still couldn't quite let his guard down.

"Who are you?" he said, the question directed at the woman standing behind Matt, his voice gravelly and rough.

The woman smiled, her face much friendlier now. Her skin was a shade or two lighter than Hunk's, and there were a couple of weird blue triangles on her cheekbones, like tattoos. The blue there matched the edging on her white dress, which draped gracefully over her strong frame, billowing around her wrists and ankles. She looked so young, especially when she smiled, but her hair was completely silver.

"I am Allura of Altea." she said in a practiced voice, as though she had answered the question many times before. This told him absolutely nothing; he had never heard of a place called Altea. Still, she had answered his question without pause, and she didn't look all that dangerous in that dress.

Matt felt the tension leave his shoulders, and cautiously slid an arm around his middle, giving him time to pull away if he wanted to. He didn't.

Once Matt had pulled him to his feet, he took a moment to sheathe his sword before the two of them were following Allura back up the hill. Beyond was a green valley, backed by tall grey mountains and embraced by pine forest. A winding dirt path led through the grass towards a small group of white washed stone buildings about a half mile from the beach. With the startlingly blue sky and puffy white clouds, the place looked like paradise. Or it would have, if the valley hadn't been absolutely crawling with _dragons._

Keith's breath caught in his throat upon seeing the giant reptiles, and stopped in his tracks, nearly topping him and Matt over. There were dozens of dragons, in dozens of different sizes and species and colors. Some he could recognize from stories and records, but others were completely new. Well, all of them were new, because he had never seen a dragon in real life.

 _Alright, that's it, I'm either dead and in Valhalla or I've gone completely mad._

"I know, it's a lot to take in." Matt said, tugging on him slightly to lead him onto the path. Keith, stumbling in his daze, let him.

"Uh, Matt? I thought the dragons were gone."

"It's a long story." he murmured in reply. "We'll explain everything once we get you settled, ok? I promise."

Keith didn't answer, electing instead to keep an eye on the dragons. None of them came too close to the path, eyeing the three humans from a few dozen feet away with cautious, slitted eyes. As they continued their trek, Keith began to notice something about the dragons. Most of them had white bandages wrapped around them somewhere, or they were limping, or had torn wings. In some way, shape, or form, they were all injured.

Before he could ask, they had arrived in the little bunch of houses. There were 5 of the small white washed huts, roofed with golden straw. All of them stood with their doors swung wide to let in the sunshine. All in all, it looked perfectly idyllic.

A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye caught Keith's attention, and he turned his head quickly enough to see a mass of white detaching itself from one of the walls. Then there were cold sapphire eyes staring at him, and a jolt went down his spine when he realized _there had been a dragon hiding against the wall the whole time._

He automatically tried to pull back, but Matt tightened his grip and kept him in place as the dragon took a few tentative steps forward. Unlike most of the other dragons he had seen so far, it walked on two thick limbs, the other two tiny and useless in comparison. It stood about a foot and a half taller than the three of them, height counterbalanced by a strong looking tail.

"It's ok, she won't hurt you."

The dragon opened her stout snout, and Keith felt decidedly less secure when he saw undoubtedly sharp teeth. The dragon took another step, and then to Keith's surprise, Allura was holding out a thin hand and patting it on the nose.

 _She's gonna lose that hand_.

But the dragon didn't bite her. Instead, she wiggled the frill behind her head happily, closed her eyes, and leaned down to nuzzle against Allura's side. Now that the initial fear was fading away, he was starting to notice how the dragon's white scales shimmered blue in the sunlight. She had seemed fearsome at first, but now with her wings flapping with joy as Allura lavished her with attention, she almost looked cuddly.

"Keith," said Allura, smiling as she scratched under the dragon's chin, "This is Soothesong."

"Soothesong." Keith repeated numbly, more than little overwhelmed. "Ok."

"She helps me keep the other dragons calm while we treat them." She continued, probably trying to explain things, but that just made Keith even more confused. She must have noticed, because with a slight cringe, she gave Soothesong one last pat on the nose and led him and Matt into a hut to their left.

The inside of the building was just as quaint as the outside, furnished with a fireplace and wooden furniture the color of warmth. Keith sank down into a chair next to a small end table, and Matt immediately bustled off to a cupboard where several loaves of bread were stacked. Allura sat at the other side of the table. She looked expectant, as though Keith was about to burst out in a flood of questions, but he didn't. At this point he just wanted to put his head down on the table and pass out.

He quickly changed his mind when Matt placed down a small loaf of bread, a chunk of golden cheese, and an apple in front of him. He immediately snatched up the bread and tore into it, probably looking like a rabid dog, but really not caring that much. Matt drew up another chair and watched with amusement.

"Slow down." he advised with a smirk. "You'll make yourself sick again."

Keith scowled, but slowed down anyway, taking a tentative bite of the cheese. It was good, sharp, probably some of the best he'd ever had.

"So, Keith." Allura said, trying to goad him into conversation. "How did you find your way here?"

Keith answered, but it was directed towards Matt, not Allura. He still wasn't sure what to make of her, and Matt was much safer.

"You and Shiro were late coming home." he said, pausing to crunch a chunk out of the apple. "Everyone else said you had probably just ran into some bad weather or something, but I couldn't accept that. I knew something was wrong, I could feel it, so I stole a boat. But I got caught in a storm and…" he finished the sentence with a shrug.

"Well, you were right." Matt responded quietly, expression much more serious than it had been a moment ago. "Something was wrong. What happened to your boat?"

Keith froze. "Odin's dick," he muttered. "Hunk is going to _kill me_."

Allura looked a little affronted by his foul mouth, but Matt just quirked his lip a little. Keith shoved the last chunk of his bread into his mouth and knocked the crumbs from his fingers.

"So?" he questioned, still talking to Matt. "What happened to Shiro?"

Matt sat forward in his chair, leaning his elbows on the small table. There was a scary look in his eyes, almost haunted, and it set Keith's nerves on edge.

"You were right, Keith, it wasn't bad weather." he murmured. "We were only a couple of days into the trip when we ran across another ship. It was way bigger than ours, and it had some kind of weird insignia on the sails. Dad tried to talk to them, but they didn't want to talk."

Keith pushed the rest of his food to the side, expecting that he wouldn't be hungry by the end of the tale. Matt continued, keeping his eyes fixed on the table and not on Keith.

"Shiro tried to defend us, but there were way more of them, there wasn't much he could do. They took us back to their main island, and Keith, there were so many dragons there." He saw Keith's confused look and took a shuddering breath. "Apparently this tribe has been capturing dragons for… decades now, I think. But their leader just now realized that the dragons weren't worth much if they couldn't be controlled. So he's been capturing merchants and traders and trying to force them to fight for him as dragon riders."

"That's why the seas were getting so dangerous." Keith murmured as the pieces clicked together in his head. "That's why you guys had to hire Shiro in the first place."

Matt nodded miserably. "They tried to make us train some of the dragons. But it wasn't working, we didn't know how and the dragons hated everyone who came near them. The guards tried to force us, tried to give us more… incentive, but it just wouldn't work."

"What do you mean by more incentive?" Keith asked, dreading the answer but knowing he couldn't resist.

"They said they'd kill my dad." Matt's voice was muffled in his arms, and at that moment he looked so young. "And eventually they got so mad they… they cut Shiro's arm off."

 _How is he going to help his dad with the woodchopping?_ Was Keith's first stunned thought, and then he felt cold spreading through his limbs. The food he had just consumed pushed up against the back of his throat, but he stubbornly swallowed it back down.

"Is he still alive?" he forced himself to ask.

"As far as I know." Matt answered, giving him a sad look. "He lived through what they did to him. Then they decided we weren't worth keeping around anymore if we weren't going to be able to help them, so they put us on a ship. I think they were going to send us to some sort of coliseum, but before we got there Shiro pushed me overboard. And I washed up here."

"Why would he do that?" Keith asked with a frown. That didn't sound like Shiro at all.

"To give me a chance to escape." Matt said without hesitation. "He did it to save me."

Keith slumped back in his chair, casting an idle look at the remainder of his apple. He was right, he wasn't hungry. He was starting to feel a little light headed and dazed again, trying to comprehend all of this new information. Shiro was being held prisoner somewhere, already missing a limb, and who knows what else they would do to him, or even if he was still alive. His heart sunk down to his still bare toes, and for a moment despair overwhelmed him. But then someone else was speaking, and it pulled him back to reality.

"I know this is a lot to take in." It was Allura talking, her voice serene and soothing. "You must have a lot of questions."

"Not really." Keith said dully, and Allura's eyebrows jumped to her hairline. "I just want to get to Shiro."

"We will." Matt cut in, his eyes burning with a sudden ferocity. "I'm not giving up on him, or my dad, I promise Keith." Keith just nodded, still feeling a little numb. "Allura, why don't you explain more."

Keith reluctantly turned his attention to Allura, who had her hands folded in front of her. He wasn't really in the mood for a history lesson, but judging from the look on her face, he wouldn't be able to escape. He wanted to just slump back and let her talk, but she seemed intent on making sure he was paying attention.

"What do you know about the Dragon Riders, Keith?" she questioned.

"Not much." Keith answered, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "I know there were five really famous ones, but something happened and they turned on each other. They all ended up dead, and the dragons disappeared." He gave a limp shrug.

Allura's mouth quirked, not quite satisfied. "That's not bad, I suppose. But that's not the whole story." She sat back and began her tale, reciting with perfect clarity.

"My father was one of those five dragon riders, Alfor the Adventurous. Their leader was a man called Zarkon the Conqueror, who was also chief of a powerful tribe. My father and the other riders worked to protect dragons and people alike." Here her face darkened. "Or at least, that's what my father _thought_ they were doing.

"At some point, my father discovered that Zarkon had been going behind his back, capturing dragons, hoarding them for their power. At first, he wanted to give Zarkon the benefit of the doubt, so he established this sanctuary for dragons and a double agent within their ranks began smuggling them out while my father tried to talk some sense into him."

"Let me guess," Keith said quietly. "It didn't work."

Allura, scowling, shook her head. "Zarkon wouldn't give up his dragons. Eventually, things escalated, and the other riders tried to stop him by force. But Zarkon and his troops killed all of them. A few years later, he attacked and destroyed my home island; Altea. My mother sent me here for safety, so I and the keeper of the sanctuary survived, but no other Alteans made it."

"I'm sorry."

Allura's eyes glistened, but she waved the comment away. "Coran and I have been here for years, treating as many dragons as we could and trying to come up with a way to take down Zarkon. Clearly we haven't been too successful."

"I've been trying to train a Terrible Terror." Matt said, chiming in for the first time. "I'm hoping if I can get a message back to Chief Iverson, he'll send some troops and help us get Shiro and my dad back."

Keith's immediate reaction was a scoff, but he bit it back for the sake of politeness.

"Iverson hates conflict." he said instead. "He'll never go for it."

"It's the only chance we've got." Matt's face was grim, and Allura's matched.

"Maybe not." At their confused glances, Keith rolled his eyes. "You guys live on an island _full of dragons_. Why haven't you just mounted up and gone in blazing by now?"

"Zarkons control has spread over dozens of islands." Allura said tightly. "And three riders does not an army make."

"Four, if you count me."

"I did count you. Soothesong is not for riding." A slight grimace slid onto her face. "Zarkon usually keeps a young Hobblegrunt to keep the other dragons calm, keeping their wings bound so they can't escape. She was one of them, and her wings never developed properly."

"Well what are we supposed to do then?" Keith snapped. "Just sit here while Zarkon tortures Shiro?"

"We are doing something." Allura's voice was cold. "Mathias is training the Terrible Terror, and until your chief sends assistance, we will continue to nurse dragons back to health."

Keith wanted to argue with them. He wanted to scream and shout and cry, ask Matt how he could stand to let Shiro rot somewhere while a madman builds an army of dragons. But he didn't have the chance, because just then another person strode confidently into the hut.

He was tall, tall enough that his hair brushed the bottom edge of the sloped roof when he stepped inside. The wrinkles on his face spoke of age, but his hair and large mustache were still a bright, almost blinding orange.

The tension had been steadily leaking out of Keith's muscles throughout the conversation, but now it all returned at once, and his fingers itched at his sides. It took great effort on his part not to draw his sword in a panic. And it didn't help at all when the man froze just inside the door and stared at him with huge blue eyes.

"Culmar?" he whispered in a disbelieving tone. "Culmar, is that you?" Before a baffled Keith could answer, the man had leapt forward and lifted him in a bone crushing hug. "Culmar, my old friend! It's been so long! You look so young, as well, you really must share your secret, old boy!"

Keith looked frantically over the man's shoulder at Matt, who was barely containing his snickers. Allura was chuckling politely behind her hand, eyes sparkling.

"Matt…" Keith said, barely keeping his rising panic out of his voice as the ginger man continued to babble, still not releasing him. "Matt, you have about two seconds to get this guy off of me before I start breaking bones."

"Ok, ok." Matt answered, swallowing back his mirth. "Coran, put him down, that's not Culmar. It's my friend from my island, Keith."

Coran immediately set Keith back down on his feet, his eyes still wide but now with embarrassment rather than joy.

"Oh, I do apologize!" he exclaimed, awkwardly folding his hands behind his back while Keith scuttled away to stand behind Matt. "You just remind me of someone I used to know, is all."

Keith had been startled into silence, but not just because of Coran's sudden hug attack. Noticing Keith's discomfort, Matt gently wrapped a hand around his wrist.

"Come on, Keith, I bet you're exhausted."

The older man started to led Keith out of the hut and towards another, but Keith wasn't really there. He was lost in thought, and he abruptly yanked both of them to a stop in the middle of the path.

"Keith, you ok?"

"What's the name of the tribe Allura was talking about?"

"Uh, I think they're called the Galra."

Keith shut down again, his mind spiraling away into memory.

 _He was maybe ten years old, returning home at sundown after a day playing with Takashi. When he entered their small shack, his mother was seated on her bed, carefully carving away at a bow. She looked up when she heard him come in, and smiled softly at her son._

" _Mom?" he asked, padding across the shack to stand beside her. "Why don't we live with my father?"_

 _The woman let out a choked sounding surprised noise, nearly dropping her knife. After taking a moment to recover herself, she carefully laid her work to the side and began forming her question with her fingers._

' _Why are you asking?'_

" _We live so close to Takashi and Hayalson," he responded, looking up at her with wide eyes. "I just thought it was weird we didn't live together."_

 _With a sigh, his mother gestured for him to bring her a piece of parchment and a charcoal stick. He did so obediently, and when he returned, she lifted him into her lap. He settled happily against her shoulder while she began writing._

' _Hayalson is a very kind man, and he has done nothing but help us ever since I arrived here, but he is not your father. Your father was named Culmar.'_

 _Keith frowned, poking lightly at the paper. "What happened to my father?" he asked seriously. His mother squeezed him slightly before returning to the parchment._

' _I was born to a large, powerful tribe called the Galra. Your father was not one of them, but joined the tribe when we got married. About two years before you were born, he got into trouble for doing a good thing. The tribe didn't punish him because I asked, but a year later he made another mistake. He said the wrong thing to the wrong person, and his actions had terrible consequences. The tribe killed him for it, cut out my tongue and sent me into exile.'_

 _Keith bit his lip, furrowing his brow in a troubled manner. "Mom, was my father a bad person?"_

 _His mother's eyes widened, and her script was a scribble in her hurry to answer._

' _No, no my son. Your father was a very brave man, and he did what was right. You're growing up to be exactly like him.'_

 _Unexpected tears welled up in Keith's eyes, and he pressed closer to his mother. She hugged him obligingly for a long moment, but pulled off before he was ready, making him pay close attention as she signed._

' _Don't. Tell. Anyone.'_

Keith never had. Even when he went to Shiro for comfort after the story, he didn't tell him. He just said he had found out Hayalson wasn't his father. And after all of this, after hearing everything the Galra had done, he probably never would.

* * *

After three days of watching Keith pace angrily in the hut they had given him, Allura got fed up. So she handed him a basket full of bandages and poultice and sent him out to change wound dressings on the dragons.

"Don't get eaten!" she called cheerfully as he left. He just grumbled to himself and kicked a rock out of his way, following the path towards the forest. Coran had mentioned some of the more solitary dragons liked to hide there, and recommended that's where he start.

The day was warm and sunny, as almost all days on this island were, though the air cooled significantly once he passed the tree line. The forest was quiet and calm, and for the first time in almost a week he felt he could relax now that he was away from everyone else. He'd known Matt his entire life, and Shiro and him were pretty close, but he had never become friends with him the way he had with Katya. Allura and Coran were nice, but they were still strangers, and Keith couldn't trust them. Not yet.

He continued further and further into the forest, keeping an eye out for the telltale flash of scales or the smell of smoke. For a long while, he didn't see a trace of any dragons. He was just about to turn back and check the valley instead when he heard a rustle to his right. Turning his head quickly, he caught the smallest glimpse of deep red as it retreated.

Keith followed with a smirk, pursuing the dragon into the brush. It traveled surprisingly quickly for a dragon on the ground, but it wasn't quite fast enough. Every time it almost lost him, Keith would spot the very tip of it's tail disappearing behind a tree, or the slight glint of light off of a scale.

 _You can't get rid of me that easily,_ Keith thought as he followed the dragon into a clearing. It seems the dragon had gotten sick of being chased through the woods, and now it stood its ground in the center of the meadow, a threatening growl rising from the back of it's throat. He paused on the edge of the grass, considering the creature before him.

If he was remembering Matt's rants correctly, this was a Monstrous Nightmare. A little smaller than normal, but the teeth jutting out from the underbite and the graceful curve of its horns made him pretty certain of his identification. It growled again, and when Keith didn't move, reared up on its hind legs.

The dragon gave a fearsome roar, flapping its large wings in warning. It's scales were a deep, dark red, and when the light caught them they gleamed like freshly spilled blood. Despite the jaw bristling with needles and the dangerous spines running down it's back, Keith thought it was the prettiest dragon he had seen yet. It shrieked again, still waving its wings.

"If you hate me so much," Keith murmured, half to himself, "Why don't you just fly away?" His eyes wandered over the dragon's wings, looking for the white of a bandage, but instead saw a tear. A large portion of the webbing on the dragons left wing was torn, hanging in several loose strips like it had been shredded. It was bleeding slightly, probably from when it had waved its wings at him.

Keith frowned. Allura said they nursed dragons to health, so why was this one still hurt? Maybe they just hadn't gotten around to it yet?

Keith took a tentative step into the clearing, then immediately retreated when the whole flipping dragon _burst into flames._

 _Yup, definitely a Monstrous Nightmare_ he thought dully, watching the flames crackle around the dragon's flesh. It was too far to feel the heat, but the smoke still found a way to sting his eyes and make them water. But Keith still didn't move, and the dragon roared, sounding more frustrated than angry at this point.

A moment later it extinguished it's flames and settled to the ground with a loud, exasperated huff, carefully folding its injured wing against it's torso. Keith lifted a foot to take a step, but put it back down when the dragon growled.

"Alright, fine." Keith huffed back at it, "I see how it is." The dragon narrowed it's slitted yellow eyes at him as he slowly lowered himself to a sitting position, but decided it was fine as long as he didn't get any closer and didn't growl.

Keith crossed his legs and got comfortable. If there was anything he was familiar with, it was someone lashing out because they were afraid. And the last thing you should do in that situation was rush them. So he sat, and the dragon sat, and they stared at each other, both waiting for the other to break.

Well, it was more like a glaring than staring. The dragon laid its head down on the ground and watched Keith carefully, giving a quiet growl whenever he moved. And Keith stayed firmly where he was, refusing to give ground, but looking steadily at the dragon in a way he hoped wasn't threatening.

It took a long time. The sun moved slowly overhead, the shadows changed and spun around the trees, but still neither dragon nor man moved an inch. The dragon was stubborn, but so was Keith, and he'd be damned if he lost to a giant lizard.

The sun was edging at the tops of the trees before the stalemate ended. The dragon's eyelids drooped wearily, blinking once, twice, and then finally gave in and closed. It seemed to relax minutely, it's head lolling slightly and it's wings loosening from it's sides. Keith indulged himself in a victorious smirk before climbing to his stiff legs.

The dragon kept its eyes closed as Keith approached, as if to say ' _Whatever, human, do what you want'_. Still carefully avoiding it's jaws, Keith made his way around to the injured wing. The dragon hissed a little, and some smoke escaped it's nostrils when Keith ran a hand over it's slick scales, but it didn't move or try to kill him. So he figured he was safe enough and bent to the task of bandaging the wound.

The dragon, a she as Keith discovered, had really done a number on her wing. The wound looked several days old at least, and once again he found himself wondering why Allura or Coran hadn't dealt with it yet. Still, he did his best, and twilight had fallen over the meadow by the time he finished. A few fireflies emerged from the grass, and stars began to fade into view in the darkening sky as he stood up.

"There ya go." he murmured to the dragon, patting the arch of her wing. She turned her long neck and looked back at it, extending it away from her body and testing it with a slight _whoosh_.

"Hold on," Keith chided, patting the dragons side on instinct. She turned back, and if a dragon could possibly look offended, she did. "You're gonna need a few days to heal. Don't mess with it."

The dragon gave a low, displeased growl, but laid both her head and her wing back on the ground.

"I'll come back tomorrow." he said, making his way back around to the front of the dragon. "I promise." She snorted a little smoke at him, as if to say ' _You better.'_

He smiled a little, and turned to go.

* * *

As he promised, he did return the next day, and the next, and the day after that. He brought more bandages- as she tended to burn hers off- and food, which she always roasted with gentle waves of flame before consuming. On the fourth day, he gave in and named her.

"What do you think of Red?" he asked the dragon. They had become more comfortable with one another the past few days, and now he sat leaning against her shoulder. She twisted her neck to give him a long look. "I know it's kind of simple, but I think it has a nice ring to it."

She blew smoke in his face and plopped her large muzzle into his lap. He chuckled and scratched behind her horns.

"I'll take that as a yes."

He took to spending all day in the woods with her, and over the many hours, he learned her behaviors. She liked to chase shards of light that reflected off of his sword. She liked to be scratched, and if he hit a certain fold in her neck, she would drop into sleep instantly. She liked blowing smoke in his face, and seemed amused when he coughed and glared at her. She had this weird warbling noise she would make in the back of her throat that almost sounded like a laugh. She liked to eat fish, but mutton was her favorite.

He also learned what Red didn't like. She didn't like it when he played hide and seek in her blind spot. She didn't like it when he showed up late. And she certainly didn't like it when he brought visitors.

In his own defense, Keith hadn't known they were following him. But the other inhabitants of the island had noticed his change in temperament from when he first arrived, and when Matt mentioned some of the more choice cuts of meat going missing, Allura and Coran felt obliged to discover the source of his strange behavior. So one day, keeping a fair distance back, the pair of them followed him into the forest.

He had clearly been going to the same place for several days now, if his practiced steps were anything to go by. At length, he broke through the tree line, entering Red's clearing.

Keith smiled up at the now familiar red dragon, but it faltered when her pupils went to slits and she backed up several feet.

"Red?" he asked, feeling a small sliver of ice pierce his chest. "What's wrong?"

The dragon hissed, but her eyes weren't quite focused on him, and her body language was all hunched up and defensive.

Keith turned sharply, sweeping narrow eyes over the tree line. Red crept up behind him, and he felt her hot breath exhaling over his shoulder.

"Who's there?" he called, a dangerous edge in his voice. He was about to reach for his sword when two shapes emerged from the trees. He recognized the silver hair and orange mustache, but his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Allura? Coran? What are you doing here?"

"Keith," Allura's voice held a warning, and Red seemed to sense it. She braced her wings against the ground and growled, the sound reverberating in Keith's chest. "Step away from that dragon."

"Why?" he snapped, resting a hand against the dragon's neck. "I'm doing what you guys asked me to."

"It's not safe." Allura said, trying to take a step into the clearing, but she hesitated when Red let out a shriek. "She's very aggressive."

"Nearly burned my mustache off." Coran added, casting the dragon a distrusting look while stroking the facial hair in question.

"She's fine with me." Keith retorted, scratching behind her horns. "Maybe you two just didn't know how to handle her."

Allura gave a sniff of offense. "My father was a famed Dragon Rider." she said hotly. "I should think I know how to handle a dragon."

Keith harrumphed grumpily, and Red turned to look back at him. He patted her snout, the same way Allura had done to Soothesong that first day.

"Whatever. I promised Red a treat today, so you two can do what you want." He reached his hand into the bag he carried over his shoulder, and Red immediately dropped her defensive stance, wiggling excitedly from snout to tail. Keith gave an amused grin, seemingly having forgotten his audience, and produced a handful of spiky green grass. Red _exploded_ , trying to crush her entire body into the small spring that Keith rubbed against her nose.

"Dragonnip!" Allura exclaimed, making Keith jump slightly. Thankfully, Red was too entranced by the grass to pay the other two humans any mind. "I've been looking everywhere for that! Where did you find it?"

"Uh, there's a little valley on the far side of the mountain. There's a whole field of it there."

Allura gave a little shriek of frustration. "I've been there before! How could I have missed it?" Suddenly, her anger dropped away, and she was giving Keith yet another sharp look.

"That valley is a day's walk away, at least." she said. "We'd have noticed if you were gone for that long."

"I didn't walk." Keith said with a casual shrug. "I rode Red."

Allura an Coran's jaws dropped so far they could've left an indention in the earth.

"You just _rode_ her?" Allura's voice was loud and shrill, finally pulling Red's attention from the grass. "Without any training? Without a _saddle?_ "

"Will you quit yelling at me?" Keith shouted back, and Red coiled around him protectively, sensing his agitation. "You wanted me to find something to do while you guys sit around and do _nothing_ about the Galra, so I did."

Red nudged at his chest, and he leaned his forehead against her snout, letting his hair cover his eyes. He ground his teeth, trying to hold back the rest of his angry words.

"I'm sorry, Keith." Allura said. She was speaking quietly, and she was a little hard to hear from the edge of the meadow. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Red won't hurt me." he responded, and Red nuzzled at him. "We understand each other."

Allura looked at Coran with an anxious expression, but he just laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Leave them be, Allura." he counseled. "If I recall correctly, your father's Monstrous Nightmare was also quite unsociable."

Allura chewed the inside of her lip, still watching the two interact with wariness. But eventually she let Coran lead her back to their responsibilities, leaving the boy and his dragon to themselves.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Four

"Pidge can I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"How far did you expect to get, after stealing the boat, when you can't even stand on it without getting sick?" Hunk was right. Katya had lasted approximately 15 minutes on the open sea before throwing herself against the side of the boat and hurling. There was a reason she didn't go with her father and brother on their trading expeditions. After the first day Hunk was worried that Katya would be so weak that she would just fall off the boat, so he put her in the barrel storage, a small cupboard in the back of the boat where the barrels of fresh caught fish were usually put. This gave Katya a chance to continue reading through the journal and working on her map, but the smell of old fish soon became too much and she was once more plastered to the side of the ship.

"Honestly? I was hoping to get through it with sheer determination, which speaking of I know where we're going now."

"You didn't before?!"

"I knew where to go but I didn't know where to land. I know now so stop yelling." Katya shuffled back to her alcove, shooting a glare at Lance on her way. He slept peacefully on the deck of the ship, unbothered by the rocking in any way. That bastard. Ducking into the alcove, she grabbed the map and looked around for Rover. If he wasn't flying around their ship then he was somewhere in here, scavenging for old fish. The telltale scratching from one of the barrels alerted Katya and she pulled out the little dragon. She chuckled at the fish head in his mouth and held her arm out properly so he could crawl up to her shoulder.

Hunk was examining the sail when Katya emerged once more, but walked over once she began rolling out the large parchment. "Ok so Garrison is here, in the fog banks, and Shiro and my family were going over here to Balmera for the fall trading. They had to go through this stretch of water because it's too rocky elsewhere, which put them right in the path of where a number of kidnappings have been happening recently. I only know this because of another trader's notes on a map that I found, but I don't think my father knew."

"Do you know who's been doing the kidnapping?" Katya startled when Lance spoke, somehow making it behind her without her realizing.

"Yes I do, The tribe of Galra. Now they have a vast empire that ranges from this island to this island and all that are in between." There was a moment of silence from the three teens, the supposed span of the Galra tribe took up half of the large map Katya had. A daunting task to find three people in that web of islands, yet that was their plan.

"Ok if they're that big then what are we supposed to do? The three of us can't fight all of them!" Hunk was jumping to conclusions and his conclusions were scaring him.

"Hunk don't worry, I'm not planning on fighting them. Were going to go to this island right here. According to the journal it used to be a dragon sanctuary, and the Galra chief had no idea it was there." The island was right on the edge of the web of islands, but the markings on the map indicated that there was a large stretch of treacherous sea. Katya looked up at Hunk and saw the indecision on his face. "What?"

"It all seems really far-fetched Pidge, and that rock field goes all around the island. How do you expect us to get to it?"

"You're a good sailor, I trust you." Hunk blushed at the sentiment, but still didn't look completely convinced. Katya stood to reassure him some more, but Lance asked a question which stole both of their attentions.

"Do you think there's still dragons there? I mean it's really hard for ships to get there but they could fly in pretty easily. And Rover had to come from somewhere right?" Lance scratched under the little dragons chin and looked inquisitively at Katya, who was pondering what he asked, for it was entirely possible that dragons still lived on the island. But there was no telling until they saw for themselves, so that answer would have to wait.

The day was long in its difficulties, as Hunk was trying to teach the others how to sail the boat as he himself was sailing it. And even through sea sickness Katya had to navigate them over the seemingly never ending ocean. And although they had brought some food it wasn't nearly enough and Lance was growing more frustrated with the apparent lack of fish in the sea. Tensions were running high, but they needed to keep going. And go they did for by the time night was encroaching the barrier of rocks shown in the map was found.

"Guys I think this is it!" Katya was ecstatic, all of her planning, all of her woes came together for the relief she felt at seeing the distant island.

"You might want to hold off on that excitement Pidge."

"Why?" Lance pointed off the side of their ship with a grim look. Katya followed his gaze, and her breath caught in her throat. Wrecked against one of the sharp rocks, listing heavily with it's sails drooping sadly, was a fishing boat. From the look of it, it was one of the Garrison's. Which... which meant...

"Oh Gods," she murmured, hearing her own voice from far away. "Keith."  
"It might not be him." Hunk said, but even he didn't sound like he believed it.  
"It's too small to be dad's and Matt's, and we aren't missing anymore boats. It has to be his." Before she could stop them, tears rose up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.  
"I was too late," she choked out, and Lance wrapped a supportive arm around her shoulder.  
"You can't blame yourself." he said softly, turning her away from the sight of the wrecked ship. "You didn't know he was going to run off."  
"What am I supposed to tell Krolia?"  
"I don't know, Pidge. I'm so sorry."They stood for a moment longer, Katya curled into Lance's arms, sniffing repeatedly. They were interrupted by Hunk clearing his throat and holding out one of the ship's two oars.

"We don't know for sure if he's dead, he might have made his way to the island, which is what we should do." Hunk explained his plan for getting to the island in one piece; Lance and him would push the boat between the rocks and Katya would guide them. So with that, Katya took her position up at the helm and began calling out directions to the other two. As they went on Katya cautiously let herself grow hopeful, if only to keep her from crying. Maybe Keith _was_ still alive.

It didn't take them long to break through the dense field of rocks, and soon they were in the peaceful bay of the island, the beach highlighted by the painted rays of the sunset. They brought their boat as close to the sand as they could, then Hunk jumped out. And with the strength and know how of several years of boat docking, Hunk dug his feet into the wet sand below the waves and pushed the boat onto the beach past the tide line. Katya and Lance stood off to the side in awe. Hunk was so gentle and kind that they nearly all forgot how strong the young viking actually was.

Hunk flexed his fingers to relieve the tension and stepped away from the boat.

"Could you guys grab the bags? I need to check the hull for damage." They two teens nodded and quickly scurried onto the boat whilst Hunk did his work. The three were done pretty quickly and started towards the forest along the edge of the beach. But before they could break the treeline, they saw an unbelievable sight. A dragon half the size of their boat the color of a noon sky flew over the tops of the trees. The three hadn't understood the implications of Rover's appearance at first, but now with the magnificent dragon flying overhead, they were all struck with the realization. Dragons were _alive,_ and in _front_ of them. And…

"Oh gods guys get down that's a Thunderdrum!" The two boys didn't understand Katya's panic but if she was scared then they knew they should be too.

The three scrambled to hide behind the nearby trees but were stopped once more by the sound of a man's voice. "Mathias my boy why the panic? I thought you and Skycracker had gotten along by now. And what's this? Have you found more strays? We can't keep taking them in like this Mathias, Keith is already quite a handful. Mathias did you shrink since I last saw you?"

Katya felt like she was underwater, she couldn't quite understand what was going on. There was a man riding on a fearsome Thunderdrum. That man apparently knew her brother, and thought she was him. And that same man was talking about Keith, who was presumably alive. Much to the dismay of her companions she had ran out halfway through the strange man's queries. By the time he had realized she wasn't exactly her brother she was already alongside the large dragon and tugging him down by his arm.

"You know my brother? He's alive? And Keith? Where are they, take me to them now!"

"Oh, uh b-brother? Mathias mentioned a sister but I wasn't expecting your arrival so soon, does he know you're here?"

" _Now._ " The strange man nodded quickly, intimidated by the small girl before him, he nodded to the back of his saddle. Implying she should get on. Without hesitation Katya used his arm as leverage up onto the dragon and sat herself behind the man. Lance and Hunk ran out from the trees yelling for Pidge to get off the dragon.

"Pidge think! You can't just get on strange dragons!"

For a moment Katya was tempted to just tell the man in front of her to fly off regardless of the boys complaints. But she knew she would never hear the end of it if she left them stranded on a strange island. So she reluctantly slid off the dragon, though she was caught halfway down by Lance, who promptly shoved her behind him.

"Alright stranger who are you?"

"Aw yes I suppose introductions are in order. I am Coran, keeper of the Sanctuary and healer of dragons."

"Ok that's a lot of things you just said at me. Where are Mat and Keith, they're alive right?"

"Yes yes of course they're alive! Alive and well in fact! They've been helping around the sanctuary quite a bit. And if my eyes aren't deceiving me then you lot seem to have gotten the Terrible Terror Mathias sent out." Hunk jumped slightly when all eyes turned to him, well more accurately to Rover who was curled up on Hunks shoulder. Katya gawked and snatched the dragon off his shoulder before just about shoving it in Corans face.

"You mean to tell me that my brother, who's afraid of _ducks_ , trained a _dragon_?!"

Hunk chimed in from behind the commotion, "Hey, you can be killed by a particularly dedicated duck!"

Lance scoffed and looked back at Hunk incredulously, "Dragons breathe _fire_ Hunk, I think that's a bit scarier." They continued the silly argument and Katya motioned behind her to Coran to prove her point.

"If you're surprised by that you're going to be gobsmacked by what Keith did."

Lance barked out a laugh, "Oh yeah real surprising I bet he set himself on fire or something, or maybe he got eaten." Katya glared over her shoulder at her friend but Coran responded nonetheless.

"You're not too far off with the fire bit. He managed to train a Monstrous Nightmare." The resounding " _What!?"_ from the three teens echoed out over the forest.

Once they had calmed down Coran invited them over to the Sanctuaries humble clutch of hut's. They agreed of course and had the entire walk through the forest to prepare themselves for the apparent valley full of dragons, or so Coran claimed, they would pass on their way to the huts. They of course weren't ready and the sheer number of dragons filled them with such fear and wonder it stole their breath away. They had to pause for a moment just to fully take in the scene.

Once their breath had returned and their legs were working again they continued along the path until they reached the little huts on the edge of a crystalline lake. It was all so idyllic they could hardly believe it was all real. Coran had been talking non stop but they hadn't been listening until he had said, "Aw look there's Mathias now!" Katya whipped her head around so quick, Hunk was afraid she would hurt herself, but Mat was indeed there. Cresting the hill whilst holding three large baskets, but upon seeing his sister he promptly dropped them. The two siblings ran at one another till they collided in a hug in the middle of the village.

Katya was gripping the back of Mat's tunic as hard as she could, afraid that if she let go he would disappear once more. Mat was chuckling and rubbing his sisters back as she cried, not minding the wet spot that was growing on his front. "You're alive! You're ok!"

"Yes I am! Gods Katya I thought you were a worrywart before, did you sail all the way here just for me!"

"Of course you idiot! Don't be an ass or I'll go right back home and tell mom you ran away with a troll!" The two of them were besides themselves at this point, laughing and crying without ever releasing each other. Though the sound of a dragon landing nearby startled Katya enough to release her brother and look up, to see Keith riding in on the back of a terrifying Monstrous Nightmare. He jumped off and ran over to the little group, confusion clear on his face.

"Katya what are you doing here? How did you find this pl-" He was cut short by Katya punching him square in the shoulder, it didn't exactly hurt but he wasn't expecting it. Just as he wasn't expecting Katya to start yelling at him.

"What did you think you were doing? Running off all by yourself to go save Takashi, when my family was _also_ missing! I would have gone with you! I thought you were dead!" Keith flinched at the last accusation and reached out with his "uninjured" arm to pull her into a quick hug.

"I'm so sorry Pidge, I wasn't really thinking when I did it but I also didn't want you to get hurt." Pidge scoffed and pulled out of the hug to examine her friend.

"Speaking of how are you _not_ hurt? We found your boat, it was wrecked."

"Oh well when I saw the island I just jumped off." From behind Katya there was a rather large throat clearing and they turned to see Hunk standing with his arms crossed, looking rather cross himself. "Oh hello Hunk, um yes sorry I did that and destroyed your boat. _Please_ don't hit me again."

Hunk rolled his eyes but walked forward and gathered Katya and Keith up in a back breaking hug. They were let down with a grunt and Lance came around to pat Keith on the shoulder, "I'm glad you're not dead."

"Thanks." Their reunion was joyful but short lived as yet another person interrupted their moment. A tall elegant woman riding on the back of an equally tall elegant dragon arrived from behind them, having come back from the lake.

"What is all this? Who are these people?"

"Oh yes, right," Mat walked up to the woman and helped her down from the dragon as he began explaining, "Allura this is my sister Katya."

"Oh Katya! I've heard so much about you, I'm so pleased to finally meet you!"

"Thank you?"

"And this is Lance and Hunk, they're Katya's friends from back home. They came to save us."

"Oh does that mean your Chief received our message?" Katya scowled and crossed her arms.

"Yeah he got it all right, but he wasn't going to do anything to help so I just took matters into my own hands." From behind her Katya heard Keith mutter 'Told you so.' but it was lost once Allura began talking once more.

"Oh no, I was so hoping that would work out." Mat looked between the Terrible Terror on his sister's shoulders and the downhearted woman.

"Was that your whole plan for saving my father and Takashi? Just send out a message and hope that an army followed?" Mat was getting more and more riled up as he kept talking, and even though Keith seemed expectant of this Katya could feel him tense behind her. So Katya made a decision to step in before it grew any uglier.

"Mat stop it. It's not her fault Iverson is a coward, and whether or not she has another plan or not we're all here now. We'll figure something out together." As Katya was talking Coran had stepped forward and was whispering something in Alluras ear.

"Coran, are you sure?" He leaned in and whispered something once more, this time gesturing to Keith.

"We didn't do that though!" He gave her a look and she sighed. "Alright we might have another plan but first I have to explain something to all of you."

Before her explantation Allura made sure that all three of them had been situated in the huts, before they all gathered in her own hut for said explantation. She told them all what she had told Keith just a few weeks ago, and Katya managed to keep her mouth shut; until the very end. "That's wrong."

"What?"

"That's not what happened, sorry."

"And how on earth would you know?" Pidge shrugged and took the journal out from her bag, she had read it cover to cover since she had found it and thus knew _exactly_ what she was talking about.

"I have Alfor's wife's journal and she talks about this very thing." Allura reached out with shaking hands for the journal, her mother's journal. Katya handed it off but began her own explanation. "Although it's true that the riders and Zarkon got into a big fight it wasn't just the riders that died. Zarkon died in that battle as well."

"That's not possible! There was a huge war, he must've been alive!" Katya shook her head and continued on.

"No, your mother's double agent told her later on that Zarkon had died in that battle, that's why the war started in the first place. Your mom thought she could get revenge, she thought she could win." There was a moment of sobriety as they all remembered that she turned out to be wrong.

"So wait, if Zarkon is dead who has been leading them all this time?"

"Your mother wrote that Zarkon's general Sendak the Silent had been leading the armada, but she believed that Zarkon's wife was actually leading the whole operation." Allura nodded absentmindedly, lost in thought before turning suddenly to Coran, who looked just as stunned as she did.

"Coran, it might work. If Zarkon is dead it might _actually_ work." Coran nodded along as well, growing more eager as the same realization dawned on him.

"I believe you're right Allura."

"What is she right about? What are you two talking about?" Keith spoke up for the remaining group, who were just as confused as the other two were excited.

"You lot are going to be dragon riders." There was stunned silence, broken only by Hunk's quiet exclamation.

"Oh gods."

Katya was wide awake, it was the day after their arrival and they were to begin dragon training today. She couldn't believe it. She was scared witless and more excited then she had ever been in her life. She knew Mat was equally excited, as they had spent a fair bit of last night gushing about it. But Mat could sleep through anything: anxiety, thunderstorms, rampaging yaks. So he was snoring in one corner of the hut while Katya looked out at the window at the moon. Had they been at home she would have pushed him out of his bed to stop his snoring, but it calmed her down immensely tonight. Her brother was here, and alive and they were going to save their father together. On _dragons._

Almost hearing her thoughts of dragons Keith emerged from his own hut and whistled sharply, and with a great whoosh of wings his Monstrous Nightmare landed in front of him. She seemed eager to see him and nudged at him, nearly hard enough to knock him over. But Keith just laughed and scratched underneath her impressive horns. Katya couldn't help but smile at the sight. Though the two were friends, it wasn't often that Keith was relaxed enough to laugh like he was now; only with Takashi did he look that happy.

The reminder of Keith's missing "brother" saddened Katya, earlier that night Keith and Mat had told her what had happened to the missing boat. Captured by fearsome Galra, forced dragon training, punishment in the form of a missing arm. Katya would never say it out loud, but in her heart she was so glad it wasn't Mat that lost an arm, and who was sent to fight in the mysterious Coliseum. But all those somber thoughts were whisked away at the sight of Keith taking flight.

She was so enraptured by the two that she promptly ran out from the hut, following their flight with her eyes. And with her legs as she walked beneath them on the dirt path, so enamored by the sight of them casting a silhouette over the full moon that Katya didn't noticed she was approaching the lip of the valley. And in one sickening step she was tumbling down the rough walls of the valley. Her legs were scraped and bleeding and she could have sworn that she bumped her head on the way down, but her landing was soft. Soft and _moving._

She attempted to scramble to her feet but with her dizziness and the unstableness she tripped again, and was saved by a cradle of two serpentine necks. She was placed gently on the ground and finally came face to face _to face_ with her savior, saviors? In any case she was laid prone on the ground in front of a Hideous Zippleback. She had read about these dragons: two heads one with the ability to make noxious gas, and the other with the ability to light it on fire. A dangerous dragon, but fiercely loyal.

These facts flew through her head, but she barely comprehend them, she was only staring at the long teeth that peeked out from the two head's jaws. Said two heads looked at each other, then at Katya, then at each other once more. They seemed to come to a conclusion in their silent conversation, and the head on her left reached forward with its mouth open. Katya tried crawling away, but she was halted by the head dragging her back by a grip on her tunic. She wasn't let go until she was sitting in the adjoining point of the two necks, and it only let go long enough to lay their necks across her lap. Effectively trapping her beneath the dragon.

Katya was stunned, the turn of events were so startling that it made her head spin, more than it was before anyways. Thinking about her head she reached up to check it for injuries and hissed when her fingers brushed along a slice on her temple. At the sound of her hiss one of the heads shot up from it's comfortable position and began examining her. So odd was it that a giant fire breathing lizard was checking her like her mother might that Katya remained still and let it do what it wanted. Upon finding the slice it cooed softly at her and licked the wound. Her hair now stuck up on one side, but oddly her wound seemed to hurt less. Now satisfied the head laid back down, and Katya was confined once more.

Over the night Katya tried multiple times to stand up and escape from the dragons, but each time one of the heads would growl or press more firmly into her lap. Katya finally came to grasp with the fact that she would remain here, at least until morning, so she made herself comfortable against the warm dry skin and went to sleep.

Katya awoke in the morning to a few things: the gentle light of the sunrise, the feeling of the Hideous Zippleback snuffling in her lap, and the sound of Lance seemingly having a panic attack.

"Coran what are we going to do! She's trapped under a giant dragon!"

"Oh my boy I wouldn't worry too much, if they were going to eat her they would have done it already-"

" _What!?_ "

"What? She's still there isn't she? Plus the Zipplebacks wouldn't hurt a fly." Katya cracked open her eyes to see Lance crouched with his head between his knees, Coran chattering on beside him.

"Lance don't start hyperventilating, you'll give yourself a headache."

"Pidge oh my gods! Are you ok?"

"Yeah yeah I'm fine, just stop yelling it's too early." Lance completely disregarded the request.

"We've been looking for you all morning! Have you been here all night?"

"Um most of the night, I went on a walk and fell down the valley. But they cushioned my fall so I wasn't too beat up. But then they wouldn't let me up after so I just stayed." Coran nodded along while she talked and once she finished he brought his hands up to his mouth and let out a loud sort of screeching roar. It echoed quite loudly throughout the valley, awakening the Hideous Zippleback and startling Lance.

"Wha- what why _why_ on earth did you do that? What purpose did that serve?"

"That dear Lance was a Hobblegrunt cry, I just alerted Soothesong to where we are so the others will soon join us here."

"Great so while they try and find us we'll just deal with the angry dragon you just woke up!" Lance pointed at the two growling heads to prove his point, because they were indeed angry. They had picked themselves up off of Katya's lap and were now hissing at the two strange males. Lance promptly ran behind Coran, while Coran looked rather confused.

"Now what's this all about? You two haven't growled at me since you first arrived. I'm sorry for waking you up but surely that's not what's got you two in a tizzy." They didn't stop growling until Katya tried standing up, and then they were turned around immediately trying to sit her back down. "Oh, so it's Katya that's gotten you two so worked up, how odd."

"Um Coran shouldn't we try and, I don't know, _get her out of there?_ "

"Nonsense my boy, Katya is safer there then she would be anywhere else on the island. I mean just look at them!" Lance looked and indeed the Zippleback was extremely attentive. When they realized that Katya wouldn't sit back down they were checking her over once more for injuries, and licking any that they found. Katya finally got them to stop licking her long enough for her to scratch under each of their horns, like she had seen Keith do the previous night. It had them positively purring in her palms, but they still growled if Lance or Coran attempted to get closer.

This continued on until the rest of the group converged on them, they were all equally shocked. Lance was quickly explaining the situation, which appeared to give Hunk quite a bit of stress. Mat though appeared not to have the same stress or fear as he ran out with no regard to Coran and Lance's warning. They watched in silence as Mat was able to get closer than they had, as the Zippleback wasn't growling. Instead Katya watched as the two headed dragon repeated what it did last night, looked at each other, then at Mat, then back at each other. Then Mat was promptly dragged between the two heads, joining Katya in her kind prison.

Katya grinned as Mat gawked, it was funny seeing her brother put so off guard. But the moment grew sweeter as the two heads seemed to pick a favorite, and the siblings soon each had a head nuzzling into their chests. Hunk and Lance's eyes seemed as if they would pop out with how surprised the two looked. Coran and Keith were slightly stunned but Allura looked as if she might cry.

"Oh dear I thought this might happen." Keith and Lance turned to her simultaneously and asked in sync.

"What's happening?" Lance turned to glare at Keith but was interrupted by Allura beginning to speak.

"Like all of our dragons here this Hideous Zippleback came from the Galra empire. And in the Galra empire they breed Zipplebacks endlessly, girls are kept for more breeding but the males are fattened up and killed for their hides. All of our Zipplebacks are girls, as such this dragon has spent years watching her eggs been taken from her, again and again. So I believe they've sort of imprinted on Katya and Mat, Katya was injured and Mat looks just like her so I'm not surprised."

They were all silent for a moment, thinking of the terrible things that the dragon had to live through. Katya leaned into the forehead of her head while Mat stroked along the frills edging the long neck on his. Coran interrupted the moment with a firm clap of his hands and a wide grin. "An unfortunate story, but I'm glad they've found you two! And as such I believe you two have found the dragon you're going to train am I right?" Katya and Mat exchanged a look before nodding at the older man.

"On that note we should set about finding you two your dragons!" Hunk and Lance flinched when the attention was suddenly turned on them. Hunk was especially concerned.

"You mean you want us to do that?!"

Allura smirked and in one fluid motion got on the saddle on Soothesong. "Why of course! How else are you to fly?"

It took a fair bit of coaxing but Mat and Pidge finally got their new found dragon out of the crevasse it was found in. It trailed eagerly behind the two as the large group ventured further into the valley, searching for dragons for Hunk and Lance.

"Katya, you have a fair knowledge of dragons correct?" Allura looked over her shoulder back at the younger girl.

"Yes! I've done extensive reading on the subject, there were tons of books on them back at Garrison. And my father gave me an old collection of dragon drawings for my birthday once."

"Excellent, what dragons do you think would best suit Hunk and Lance? We have many but if we can shorten the process and get to training we will all benefit in the end."

Katya nodded thoughtfully and considered what she knew carefully. For a short stretch of walking she was just muttering to herself, before coming to a tentative conclusion.

"Well I think Lance would do well on a Deadly Nadder, they're very quick and agile. As for Hunk, probably a Gronckle." Hunk had been walking calmly alongside Allura but at the mere mention of a Gronckle he tensed noticeably.

"Hunk? Is something the matter?" Having all eyes on him didn't lessen Hunk's discomfort and he blushed at being the center of attention. Bashfully scratching the back of his head he confessed.

"Well when I was younger my mom used to tell me that if I misbehaved Gronckles would come and eat my toes, because hunks of iron were their favorite snack." There was a burst of laughter from all surrounding, though Katya came up to Hunk and linked her arm through his.

"Which one of your moms told you that?"

"My given mom."

"Hunk, she also told you that if you ever ran away giants would pick you up and bring you back home. And here you are now, with no giants in sight!" At the reminder of the outlandish stories Hunk's mom would tell there was another round of laughter from the Garrison people. Though this round was cut short by Allura's question.

"What do you mean by given mother?"

Silence. Then Hunk answered, rather defensively.

"My dad left when I was really little, and we were alone for a while and it was really hard. Then my mom remarried, to my other mom. And she was just so wonderful that it felt like my mom had given me a gift." Katya squeezed Hunk's arm in a form of solidarity, she knew that the village didn't accept as readily at first. If Hunk's mom's weren't the best shipmakers on the island there surely would have been more trouble for them. But that same trouble did not find them here.

"That sounds lovely Hunk, I'm happy for you and your mother. But I hope you're still not afraid of Gronckles, because I agree with Katya. You would do excellent on a Gronckle." Hunk grinned widely and nodded, and Katya smiled to herself. Fastest way to being Hunk's friend was being accepting with his moms, and Hunk was the best friend a person could have.

The mood turned jovial once more as the trailing Zippleback began playing with Red, and Keith was suddenly on a bucking dragon as she eagerly joined in. Lance and Mat were besides themselves with laughter when Keith got bucked off Red. And as Hunk ran over to help him up Keith pointed at the nearby hill. "There's a ton of Gronckles on the other side of that hill, I saw them when Red tried to see if I could fly _by myself_." The last part was said with a pointed glare at his dragon, she promptly responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

The group began walking over the hill to the grand sight of a huge herd of Gronckles, in all sizes and colors. At the top of the hill Hunk stopped in his tracks, his shoulders still tense, but when Katya squeezed his arm again he turned and gave her a watery smile.

"They look just like how my mom described them." Katya grinned back at him and looked out over the field of dragons.

"They're going to be so proud of you you know." Lance came up and threw his arms around the two of them.

"Yeah they'll be real proud, once they're done freaking out about the boats." Hunk let out a very strained groan at the thought, but walked down into the field nonetheless. Coran followed after, proclaiming he would assist Hunk in the befriending of his dragon. The rest of them remained at the top of the hill, watching silently as Hunk and Coran stepped amongst the Gronckles. Well near silently.

"So Allura, what terrible thing do the Galra do to Gronckles?" Lance was sat comfortably in the grass but his expression was serious.

"Well Lance the Galra use Gronckles in their iron production. But the more they force the Gronckles to work the weaker their gag reflex gets, and the less they can expel lava. But they still are able to protect themselves with their lava blasts, so the Galra eventually start attacking the Gronckles to get the lava they need. Until the dragons can't produce anything anymore. Thankfully we've saved many before it got to that point." Lance nodded and brought his knees up to rest his chin on, his expression remained serious.

They were sat up there for a long time, Katya and Mat discussing what to name their dragons while finding where they most like to be scratched, while Keith, Allura, and Lance continued watching. They watched as Hunk tentatively played with the babies, then in turn played with the mothers. He stepped through and greeted many of the Gronckles before coming to the largest male of the pack. It had been watching Hunk closely the entire time he had been there, and Hunk stopped in his tracks when he realized. He said something to Coran, and after Coran replied Hunk went over to a nearby mound of rocks and picked up the largest one; with ease.

Hunk brought the large rock over to the Gronckle and placed it in front of him, before stepping back a little bit. The Gronckle sniffed at the rock and after a moment of staring at Hunk it ate it quite eagerly. Then while the Gronckle was busy eating Hunk stepped forward with a hand stretched out towards the Gronckles nose horn. It sniffed at Hunk's hand, just as it had with the rock and Lance from the side could see that Hunk was very scared of losing his hand at the moment. But he didn't, for the Gronckle leaned deeply into the touch from the human and accepted the attention and scratches he soon received. A soft cheer came from the top of the hill and Hunk gave them a big grin and a thumbs up.

"What are you guys gonna name your dragons?" They were walking away from the field of Gronckles, with a new dragon following along. Lance had been silent for a while but suddenly turned to face his friends. Katya immediately spoke up, as if she had been waiting for someone to ask her.

"Ours is Thought and Chatter!"

"Pretty good, Hunk?"

"I've kind of been thinking of just calling the big guy here Snack." At that Allura herself whirled around to face the teens.

"I'm sorry _what_ are you naming your fire breathing dragon?"

"Snack! It makes me think of my mom's stories, and it's funny. So why not?" Allura didn't look at all convinced but returned to leading them all down the path.

"Well I like it Hunk."

"Thank you Lance!" A moment of silence in which Lance looked like an eager dog. "And do you have a name picked out Lance?"

"I'm so glad you asked Hunk! I'm going to name my dragon Glorywing!"

"You don't even have a dragon yet, what are you doing naming it?"

"Well Pidge I've had lots of time to think and I know that it'll be glorious so why not?" Katya rolled her eyes but smiled at her friends antics.

On their way from the field of Gronckles they had passed many different dragons, most with some sort of bandaging on them. Katya named the ones that she could, with Allura filling in those that she couldn't, and when Katya called out Deadly Nadder Lance stopped. It was a girl, Katya could tell due to the curve of it's horn, but it was much larger than most females and far more scarred. It's face was nearly covered in scars, with a particularly nasty one over her left eye. There were baby dragons and Terrible Terrors sleeping all around her and all in all it looked very picturesque. But Allura grabbed Lance's arm firmly when he tried to walk closer. "Lance no."

"Why? You guys said I should train a Deadly Nadder! There's one right there, what's the issue?"

"That one's not for training, she was forced to fight in the Coliseum for a very long time due to her size. And she lost an eye in the process, Deadly Nadders already have a very big blind spot; so she's nearly completely blind at this point. She won't appreciate some strange human approaching her and you might get hurt, so just leave her be." Lance sighed and after one last long look at the dragon turned away to keep walking. But he halted once more after hearing Keith's remark.

"That's what you said about Red too, right?"

"Yes well you and her have a special sort of bond."

"I only got that bond because I won a staring contest with her you know."

"Well fortune favors the bold and all that."

When Allura turned Lance was already gone, she looked around frantically and found him walking towards the Nadder.

"Oh gods he's going to get himself killed!" Katya looked up at the woman, rather unimpressed.

"You egged him on I don't know why you're so surprised."

"No I didn't!"

"Mmhmm." They turned to see Coran and Keith running out after Lance to stop him, but with a flick of the Nadders tail they stopped. Two Nadder spines buried in the grass before them. The Nadders one good eye was opened and trained on Lance. It hadn't done anything other than the tail flick but the smaller dragons surrounding it cleared out anyways.

With a slow shake of it's shoulders the blue dragon stood up, it's eye never leaving Lance. As Lance steadily approached he began rooting around in his pockets, before pulling out three little white lumps. Simultaneously Hunk and Katya buried their head in their hands and groaned.

"That's his plan?!"

"Idiot!"

"What? What's his plan?" Alluras anxiety seemed to peak ever higher at Hunk's and Katya's reactions. Katya looked out through her fingers at the scene unfolding and responded with a groan.

"He just took sugar lumps out of his pocket, he's acting like she's a spooked horse." Allura stared at Lance with a very confused look. Before asking Katya incredulously, "Where did he get sugar lumps? We don't have any in our stores."

"He always has sugar lumps, stupid farm kid." Hunk was pressing his knuckles to his mouth and staring intently at the other boy. Silence prevailed as they all watched Lance approach with his handful of sugar lumps held out. The Nadder sniffed at the sugar, then sniffed at Lance. And there was a tense moment when she bumped her head against Lance's chest, the spines adorning her crest nearly scraping the underside of his chin. A collective held breath thankfully released when the Nadder licked the sugar out of Lance's hand, and leaned into it afterwards.

Lance's smile was blinding when he turned back to the group, "Guys! Meet Glorywing!"

(A/N This chapter brought to you by Goddessgirl on AO3.

UNC-

Silence)


	6. Chapter 6

Dragon training began in earnest the next day. It was… interesting, to say the least.

Hunk probably did the worst, if they were all honest. He and his dragon got along fine, but that's because they were both almost ridiculously cautious. Neither of them liked performing even the most basic of flight maneuvers, and they often caused pile ups with the others when they faltered. And if Pidge got sea-sick, holy _hell_ did Hunk get air sick. He could barely go two minutes in the air without looking like he was going to hurl.

Of course, not all of them had the same difficulties. Matt and Katya, having shared an interest in dragons for years, took right to Thought and Chatter. They had a good relationship, and even though they often bickered on the ground, in the air they were almost the same person.

Lance and Keith did well; individually. Lance had been training animals his entire life and knew how to handle them, while Keith had an almost instinctive knowledge of what Red was thinking. Lance worked well with Glorywing's partial blindness, and her spine shot was deadly accurate every time. Keith could coax the most agile and intricate flight patterns out of Red, even ones that seemed improbable for a dragon the size of a Monstrous Nightmare. The real problem with the two of them lay in their teamwork. As in, they had none.

Keith was naturally impulsive, which often saw him breaking formation in favor of going off on his own. And Lance had a competitive streak the size of his dragon. Not a single day went by when Lance wasn't challenging Keith to some kind of ridiculous competition. Keith, easily irritated as he was, always accepted.

By their second week on the island together, Allura was beginning to lose her patience with the two of them. They were _constantly_ arguing with each other, and it wasn't the kind hearted bickering that went on between the Holt siblings. This was different, laced with a venom that spoke of old resentment. Allura wouldn't have minded, except as they all improved their flying skill, it was clearly becoming an impediment to the functioning of the team.

One day at target practice, right as Lance was lining up a shot, Keith swooped in with a whoop and destroyed the target with a fire blast from Red. Lance retaliated by chasing him around the island for nearly an hour, disrupting the entire training session.

Another day at sunset they were settling down for the night, taking care of their dragons. They had already been fed, and usually they took some time to play with their flying partners. Lance had Glorywing on her back, wriggling happily while Lance scratched her belly with great enthusiasm. Keith was bobbing and weaving around Red, sticking in her blind spot while she tried unsuccessfully to locate him.

Eventually, Red gave a half frustrated shriek and turned the opposite way from Keith, managing to catch him with her snout. She huffed smoke at him, and he laughed, batting it away from his face.

"You always figure it out, don't you?" he murmured to her, scratching under her horns. She made her happy warble- different from her amused warble- and arched into his hands.

Lance looked up and frowned at Keith. "I don't think you should do that." he said in a slightly testy voice, and Keith's smile melted off of his face.

"Do what?" His voice was tight, containing a silent dare for him to continue. The others glanced over, already sensing the impending fight.

"Dragons don't like it when you hide in their blind spot." Lance responded, continuing to scratch Glorywing. "It makes them anxious. Allura and Coran said so."

"Red is different." Keith shot back, laying a hand protectively on his dragons muzzle. "If she didn't like it I would know."

Lance snorted. "What, you're some kind of dragon whisperer now?"

"No." Keith snapped. "I just know her, ok? Worry about your own dragon."

The other boy let out a harrumph, and he muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Yeah, cause you always have to be the special one."

Keith's stomach twisted in anger, but then Red nudged at him again and he felt it lessen. Lance could say whatever he wanted, Red would always have his back. So, reining in his temper for the first time in his life, he turned away.

Allura had watched the entire interaction with a frown, but elected to let it go for the time being. She really shouldn't have, because with each passing day, their voices grew more bitter, their jabs hitting just a little closer to home.

"I bet I can do it better than Keith," was a common exclamation from the McClain boy, which always drew a glare from Keith.

"Do you always have to try to be the best at _everything_?" Keith would snarl in return, and Lance would respond with a confident, slightly bitter smirk.

"I don't have to try." he would say. "I just am." Keith usually turned away with an eyeroll or a growl, and Allura swore if she heard this conversation one more time she would go mad.

Formation flying brought its own challenges. Sometimes Keith would veer off suddenly to investigate something that had caught his eye, or to catch a good current and pull a fun move. Coran would call him back and speak to him sternly. And then, inevitably, Lance would chime in.

"Stick with the group Keith." Lance would snap. "I know caring about other people isn't really your thing, but you could at least _try_."

"Can't you ever shut your mouth?"

Katya tried to talk to Keith, and Hunk tried to talk to Lance. But nothing came of their efforts.

"I just want to be left alone." Keith had said, crossing his arms and looking away. "It's not my fault he's an asshole for no reason."

"He's an arrogant show off." Lance had insisted, shooting Hunk a sour look. "He needs to be taken down a peg."

Things finally came to a head, and unfortunately it just so happened to happen during combat training.

All of them had some experience with weapons (They were vikings after all), but Allura insisted they had to be better if they were going to take on the Galra. And for once, neither Keith or Lance complained. Lance loved showing off his archery skills, and Keith found swordplay to be endlessly therapeutic. Of course, giving two teenage boys who hate each other weapons and telling them to spar probably isn't the best idea in the world. And it wasn't.

At first it went fine. Lance was trying to practice his close combat, so Keith was walking him through a short drill. They had been working at it for some time now, and Lance was finally starting to get it. Step here, step there, block, swing; sweat dripped down both of their necks, and Lance's leg muscles were burning, but he was finally getting it. It was the longest they had ever gone without arguing.

"Ha!" he suddenly exclaimed, sending an unexpected side swing at Keith's face. His eyes widened, and he barely got his sword up in time to block Lance's hit. They stared at each other for a moment, and then he scrunched up his nose. He suddenly bore down on his sword, twisting Lance's arm the wrong way and making him stumble. Quickly, too quickly for Lance's exhausted body to comprehend, Keith was slashing at his other boy barely jumped back in time and fell to the ground with a dull thud.

"Hey!" He yelled indignantly. "What was that for?"

"You went off the drill." Keith responded tightly, staring down at him with disdain. "If I hadn't blocked in time you could've hit me. These aren't training swords, Lance, they're sharp."

"I know that!" Lance climbed angrily to his feet, cheeks coloring at being spoken to like a child. "I just figured Mr. Perfect should be able to block one unexpected hit."

Keith scowled and sheathed his sword. Some of his black hair had escaped from his stubby braid and stuck to his skin with sweat, and his cheeks were flushed, either from exertion or anger.

"We're done." he snapped. "I'm not going to waste my time with you if you aren't going to take it seriously."

"Oh yeah, cause anyone who isn't naturally gifted at everything is just a waste of your time, huh?" They had had arguments like this before, but somehow this one seemed different. Lance's snarl was just a little deeper, a little more raw, and Keith's fists were clenched dangerously.

"I'm not naturally gifted, Lance." he ground out between his teeth. "I worked to get this good, and I'm not going to pretend to be worse just because you're too immature to handle someone else being better than you."

Lance's vision turned red, and before he really knew what he was doing, he was swinging at Keith with his weapon at full strength. The others, who had been sitting on the sidelines watching the verbal tennis match with mounting anxiety, all leapt to their feet with a simultaneous cry.

Keith dodged the clumsy swipe easily, spinning behind Lance. He immediately turned, and with a growl of frustration, dropped the sword with a clang. He was better with his fists anyway. Then he was tackling Keith.

They both hit the stone floor of the training ring hard, and Keith winced when his head cracked against it. Stars exploded behind his eyelids, but he ignored them and grabbed two fistfuls of Lance's tunic, roughly rolling them. As soon as he was on top, he aimed a punch for Lance's head. He barely dodged, and Keith gave a little yell of pain when his knuckles slammed into the ground. But his next hit caught Lance squarely on the cheekbone, and his head lolled to the side, dazed. Keith punched him again, watching with satisfaction as his lip split with a burst of blood.

Then there were hands on him, and over the blood rushing in his ears, he could dimly hear people yelling. At him or at Lance or both he couldn't tell, but it didn't really matter as whoever had him was hauling him off Lance.

Large hands lifted him, even as he struggled, and dumped him unceremoniously on the ground. Once the two were separated Hunk bent anxiously over his friend. Though it seemed Lance's anger hadn't dulled, as he immediately sat upright and tried to push Hunk away. When he wouldn't budge, Lance just glared at Keith and wiped the blood from his chin. Keith bared his teeth at him, but before they could lunge at each other again someone else was kneeling between them.

It was Matt, and though his brow was furrowed, his eyes looked concerned. Keith tried to ignore him and push past, but Matt clamped a hand on his shoulder and kept him in place.

"Hold still, Keith, you might have a concussion." he snapped, and although adrenaline was still coursing through him, Keith reluctantly stayed still.

Matt held up a finger, tersely instructing Keith to follow it with his eyes. He did, and after a few more moments, Matt seemed satisfied.

"Can you move your fingers?" was his next inquiry, and Keith clenched and unclenched his bloodied fist. It hurt a little, but not enough for a break.

"What in the sweet name of Valhalla is going on here?!" Allura's voice was powerful normally, and doubly so when she was angry, so they all heard her clearly as she came storming towards them. Having gone to tend to some other business, she hadn't been there to stop the fight before it started. Keith looked away in irritation, biting his tongue so that he wouldn't say anything he would regret later.

"Sorry Allura." Lance said. His voice sounded almost genuine, but there was an undercurrent of mocking that made Keith's blood boil. "Keith just can't seem to resist one upping me."

"I'm sorry," Keith responded, "That sounded an awful lot like you were talking about yourself."

"Enough!" Allura snapped, planting her hands on her hips. "This cannot continue if we are to work together to defeat the Galra! What is it with the two of you that makes you want to kill each other?"

Keith and Lance exchanged a cold look. Honestly, Keith had no idea why they were doing this. He didn't want to be constantly fighting with him. But Lance always came after him, always poked at him and pushed him until he snapped. And he didn't know _why_.

"I'll tell you why." Lance said bitterly. "He's an arrogant ass who always has to be the best at everything. He always goes out of his way to prove he's better than me."

"I do _not_." Keith snarled. "I just do what people ask me to do!"

"Don't play dumb, you've been doing this for _years_."

Keith's mouth started open, but suddenly he froze when he realized. He remembered the first fight he had ever gotten into, that day at the harvest festival when he was thirteen. The fight, unsurprisingly, had been with Lance. He struggled for a moment to recall what the fight had been about, but once he did, he just got infuriated all over again.

"Oh my _gods_ ," he spat out, pushing himself to his feet. Matt squawked and tried to get him to sit down, but Keith just shoved him away. "Is that what all of this has been about? All of these years, and you're still pissed about that stupid gods damned horse race?"

"Yes!" Lance scrambled upright and stalked forward, barging into Keith's space. Keith clenched his jaw and barely resisted the urge to punch him again.

"My family always won those races!" Lance was yelling, while everyone else just stood back and stared in bewilderment. "That was my moment! And you just swooped in and stole it from me! You _humiliated_ me in front of my whole family, the whole village!" Angry tears sprung up in his eyes, and one escaped before he fisted them away. "But that wasn't enough for you! Every single time you came to the village you humiliated me, in front of _everyone_."

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Keith shouted back, fists clenching with a slight sting from the torn skin. "Did you ever think about _why_ I tried so hard at everything? Did it ever once occur to you that maybe I didn't want to be alone?!"

Lance's jaw dropped slightly at that, and silence fell over all of them. Keith felt sick at the sudden admission of vulnerability, but he found that now he had started, he couldn't stop.

"I wanted to be a part of something." he said, voice quieted by the hint of misery that tainted it. "I wanted to have friends, like you. I didn't want to just be that weird kid who lived in the woods. I wanted to _belong_." His face twisted again in anger, and he was back to shouting just as quickly as he had stopped. "But every time I tried, you pushed me away! I just wanted to prove myself, but you were always there to shove me right back down."

Keith's throat closed, and he choked on the next words, but he had to get them out, or they would burn a hole in him.

"And now it's too late. I never belonged, and because of you, _I never will_."

While everyone was still stunned, before they could try and stop him, Keith had whirled and ran from the training ring. He didn't know where he was going. His vision was clouded by tears, and he couldn't hear a damn thing over his heart pounding in his ears.

 _I can't believe I said all of that_. He thought dimly as he ran, his feet unconsciously turning towards the forest. _In front of everybody. Stupid, stupid, stupid._

He ran until he couldn't anymore, until there was a stitch in his side and his lungs burned. When he finally collapsed to a stop, he found himself surrounded by grass, trees looming up around him. He was in a clearing.

Red's clearing.

A mere moment after he realized, he heard the heavy beat of wings above his head, and his hair whipped about with the wind as the dragon in question landed in front of him. Red took one look at him, at his tear-stained face and bloody knuckles, and made soft cooing growl. Closing her yellow eyes, she shuffled forward until Keith was pressed against her neck, wings wrapped around in a protective, leathery case. Here, pressed up against his dragon, feeling the heat of her breath on his back, he finally felt safe.

He finally let himself crack.

* * *

It was well into the night before he found his way back to the small cluster of huts, Red trailing along behind him. Despite the comfort of her presence, he found himself missing Shiro so badly it physically ached in his chest. Training with Red had helped him forget for awhile, but he was practically jumping out of his skin with the urge to flee the island and find his brother.

They arrived at his hut, and Keith gave Red one last pat on the muzzle before going inside. There was a whoosh as she took off, and Keith stood still for a moment, listening to the beat of her wings fading away. Then he crossed the room to his bed and collapsed.

He was awoken rather violently the next morning by Allura storming into his hut, dragging a struggling Lance behind her.

"Allura!" he shouted, writhing as Keith glared up at them with sleepy eyes. "Let me go! You're gonna rip my ear off! _Allura!"_

With a smooth motion, Allura tossed Lance into a chair and whirled to face Keith, who grumbled crossly and turned his back to her.

"You can't escape this, Keith." she said in a hard tone. "You and Lance are going to resolve this childish argument, right now."

"We've been fighting for years." Lance muttered, rubbing his sore ear. "I don't think a mediation session is going to fix it."

Allura ignored him, and with a sharp yank, pulled Keith's blanket off of him. "Get up, Keith."

Keith shot upright, an angry growl echoing out of his throat. "Faen ta deg." he snarled, glaring at an unmoved Allura.

"Don't say that to her." Lance piped up, and Keith fixed his glare on him instead.

"Shut up, Lance."

"Enough!" Allura cried, throwing her hands in the air. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! How are we going to rescue your friends if you two can't go two seconds without tearing each other apart?!"

That gave Keith a pause, and his glare softened into an irritated contemplation. His teeth dug into his lip. But Lance didn't seem to care, crossing his arms tightly across his chest and sitting back.

 _Of course he doesn't care. It's not his family trapped out there._

But, unfortunately, Allura was right. He had to fix this somehow with Lance, if only for Shiro's sake. So he took a deep, _deep_ breath, and made the incredibly difficult choice to take the high road. Keith shifted into a different position, sitting cross-legged on his bed and facing Lance directly. He narrowed his eyes, not in anger but in determination.

"Lance." he said firmly, and Lance reluctantly looked up at him. "I wasn't trying to humiliate you."

"Really? Cause you always managed to swoop in and steal the win right out from under me." Lance's answer was a snap, and Keith had to try really, really hard not to flip on him again.

"I thought if I did well, if I proved myself to the village, then you guys would accept me." Keith bit into the inside of his lip and looked down at his lap. "I thought if I came first in everything, eventually I would earn my way in."

Lance let out a shuddering breath, and Keith bit back the rest of his statement.

 _But you wouldn't let me._

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lance shift, and he looked up to see Lance's posture loosening. He almost looked like he was deflating.

"I was trying to prove myself too." he mumbled, staring at the floor. "My family had certain expectations of me, and so did the rest of the village, and when you won instead of me, it made everyone think less of me."

His eyes flicked to Keith for a moment, and then to a smug looking Allura, and then back to the floor.

"I acted the way I did because as long as I convinced myself you weren't really part of the village, then I could still pretend I was the best."

There was a pause as both of them looked at anything besides each other, and Allura crossed her arms with a proud smirk.

"There." she proclaimed. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

 _That was the worst thing I have ever had to do._

Keith actually thought he was physically going to die from baring his soul like that in front of Lance. Judging by the grimace on Lance's face, he felt much the same.

"I don't think it's fixed, Allura." Lance said with a wince. "It's just awkward now."

Allura frowned.

"Maybe," Keith said hesitantly, "Maybe we should say sorry?"

"I guess." Lance huffed. "I'm… sorry. For always been an asshole. I guess you didn't really deserve it." It wasn't much as apologies went, but it was way better than Keith ever expected from Lance.

"I'm sorry too." Keith mumbled, still staring at the floor. "For some of the things I've said."

Lance gave a limp shrug. "Never said anything worse than I did."

Allura's smile returned. "There, all fixed. Now let's get back to training!" She turned to sweep out of the hut, and as she went, she muttered, "And to think, all of that fuss over a silly little horse race."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Six

The air was crisp and cool. For once it wasn't raining or hailing, and the sun shined above the crowd's heads. The light was weak, almost struggling to reach the ground, but to Lance it was perfect. Harvest was always his favorite time of year, in no small part due to the festival.

He gently patted his pony's neck, and she huffed, shaking out her mane. She was just as impatient as he was. They were surrounded by other children, all roughly the same age as him and mounted similarly on ponies. There was his best friend, Hunk, clinging to his horse's mane as though he would fall off any moment. Hunk disliked horseback riding, but this race was a tradition.

Glancing around, Lance saw three or four other kids from the village, looking alternatively excited or terrified. In the back, he noted with a slight frown, was _that kid_. The kid with the black hair and pale skin. The kid who didn't even live in the village, but in a shack in the woods with his mother. He wasn't smiling or cowering like any of the others. Instead his brow was furrowed, and he looked as determined as a thirteen year old possibly could.

 _What's he doing here?_

Lance's attention was caught by the Chief ascending the platform off to the side of the race course, and he squared his shoulders.

 _Who cares, I'm gonna win anyway._

The harvest festival always started with the horse races, and there were many, all for different age brackets. This one was the first, and was meant for the tweens, children who were stuck in between being children and adults. It was their first real chance to show off their skills, and Lance smirked to himself as he barely paid attention to the Chief's speech.

A McClain had won every horse race at the festival for the last five years in a row. And that wasn't about to end now. Lance's family was _the_ farming family on the island. He had lived and breathed horses his entire life. And with the whole family standing off on the sidelines with expectant looks, there was no way he could fail.

He leaned over the neck of his pony as the Chief's speech began to wind down. Any moment now the starting horn would be blown, and he could take off, wind in his hair and stinging his eyes, the thundering of hooves in his ears and the feeling of muscle moving under him. He loved it. It felt like flying.

"Ready," called the Chief, raising his hand in the air, and Lance's focus zeroed in on him.

"Steady," Lance drew in a breath and let it out slowly. This was his moment.

"Go!"

Lance dug his heels into his horse's sides, and they took off down the track. He didn't bother to look back at the others, he knew he was in the lead. The crowd was cheering on the sidelines, and their words blurred into one beautiful cacophony of sound. Lance couldn't get enough of it.

All too soon, the race was coming to a close. He could see the finish line ahead of him, he could see his brothers' grinning faces, and he smirked. He was close, almost there, just a little further…

And at the last moment, just before he crossed the line in the mud, there were hooves thundering right behind him. There was a _whoosh_ as a pony rushed by, and then _someone else crossed first._

Lance was right on his heels, but the other kid had clearly crossed first, and he felt his stomach drop right through his feet. The crowd went absolutely silent in shock as Lance pulled his pony to a stop with automatic motions.

He dropped numbly to the ground, and it was only then that he really looked at who had beaten him. And his vision went red.

It was _that kid_. That kid with the black hair, pulled back into a little stubby braid that barely reached the back of his neck. That kid with the pale skin smeared with brown mud. That kid who lived in a shack in the woods, and was grinning, stupidly unaware that absolutely no one else was happy for him. _That. Kid._

He got down from his horse, happily patting its side. People were beginning to gather, still silent, unsure whether or not to cheer on this outcast in his victory. Someone pushed through the crowd towards him, smiling wide, and Lance dimly recognized him. He was the son of the woodcutter, Takashi was his name. He was older than them, about 16, and was almost a foot taller than any of the younger kids. He ran up to the kid and hooked his elbow around the younger boys neck.

"You did it, Keith!" he exclaimed, voice jittery with excitement. "You did it!" He ruffled the kid's hair with his knuckles, and he shoved Takashi away, a laugh bubbling out of his throat. He was still smiling, basking in his glory.

Lance snapped.

"That doesn't count!" he shouted, stomping his way over to the younger boy. He shoved Takashi aside, getting right in Keith's face. "You didn't really win!"

Keith's smile slid away, replaced by a dark look of anger, and his hands fisted into his red tunic. He said nothing, which only made Lance angrier.

"This race is for the village, which _you_ aren't really a part of, are you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Lance could see the Chief wading his way through the crowd towards them, but he didn't care. This was _his_ moment, _his race,_ and he wasn't about to let some _freak_ take that away from him.

Keith, infuriatingly enough, hadn't said anything. His face was twisted in rage, his fists clenched so hard they trembled, but he didn't say anything.

"What, are you mute too?" Lance spat. That struck a cord, and Keith's weird purple eyes burned.

"No." he hissed. Takashi was in the background, reaching for Keith's shoulder, trying to break them apart. But it was way too late for that.

"Good." Lance said with a smirk, and then he pushed Keith into the mud. Keith's palm stung where it struck the ground, but he barely felt it. He bared his teeth up at Lance, his eyes flashing, and then he tackled him around the waist, sending them both to the ground with him on top.

The crowd erupted in a roar. Whether they were egging them on or trying to get them to stop, neither boy knew or cared. It took barely a moment for Takashi and Lance's older brother to pull them apart, but by then Keith had a split lip and Lance had scratch marks all the way down one cheek.

Keith struggled in Takashi's grip, trying to reach for the dagger tucked in his belt, but the older boy had a firm hold.

"Don't Keith." he said, backing away from the crowd and dragging him with. "You'll only make it worse."

"I'm gonna kill him." Keith spat, kicking at Takashi's shins.

"No, you're not. You won the race, be happy about that and forget about him."

Keith snarled, but it was half hearted, and he let Takashi take him home, nursing his anger all the way.

Lance was still in the center of the crowd, desperately fighting back the tears pricking at his eyes. He wasn't going to cry. He wouldn't let the whole village see him cry like a baby.

"That was stupid." his brother said, grabbing him by the tunic and starting to haul him away. "You shouldn't start fights you can't win."

"I would've!" Lance said, rubbing his eye with his fist. The scratches on his cheek hurt. "If you and Takashi hadn't butted in!"

His brother scoffed and rolled his eyes, the same shade of blue as Lance's. "You're good with a bow, I'll give you that, but I've seen that kid use a blade. You would've lost, and you know it."

They had finally gotten away from the crush of people, and his brother shoved him a little, almost making him stumble.

"Go find your friends, and stay out of trouble! Mom and Dad don't have time to deal with you right now." He turned and stalked back into the crowd, leaving Lance standing there alone.

Not for long, though. Mere seconds later, he was joined by Hunk and Katya, his best friends.

Lance was a friendly kid, he was friends with most of the people in the village, but Hunk and Katya were the closest to him, even if you count his family. He immediately turned into Hunk's embrace and sniffled, knowing the other boy wouldn't judge him for crying.

Hunk always gave the best hugs. He was taller than Lance, and broader, and even though he was strong, he was still soft. Unfortunately, the niceness of the hug was interrupted by always probing Katya.

"Why did you say all that?" she demanded, putting her little hands on her hips. She was a couple of years younger than them, and it showed in her appearance. Her auburn hair fell over her shoulders in fancy festival braids undoubtedly done by her mother, and her thin frame was nearly drowning in the green tunic handed down from her brother. But despite her age and her size, she could talk circles around both Lance and Hunk any day.

"What do you mean?" Lance huffed, reluctantly pulling away from Hunk, who kept a hand on his shoulder.

"Keith beat you fair and square. So why were you so mean to him?" Her sharp eyes were boring holes in his skull, and Lance looked down at his feet.

"That was my race." he muttered angrily, almost to himself. "My family always wins the horse races. And he's just some weirdo who lives in the woods."

Katya, gods bless her, still didn't understand.

"Keith and Krolia are _nice_." she insisted, scrunching up her nose. "It's not fair to be mean to them just cause they don't live here with the rest of us."

"You don't get it, Katya." Lance said, rolling his eyes. He loved her, but she never understood the way a community worked, how the tribe worked. "They may be nice, but they're not part of the village. They don't belong."

Katya crossed her arms stubbornly. "You're being dumb." she said, blunt as usual.

"Whatever." Lance huffed, crossing his arms and abandoning the subject. "He just better stay away from now on."

Unfortunately, he didn't.

The village held a variety of competitions every year, and for each one of them, Keith would show up. And almost every time he did, he would beat Lance. Lance always came in close second, but it was still second.

It drove him _mad_. Every time Keith beat him at something and he saw his family's faces set in stone, red hot shame would burn through his veins. More often than not, he took it out on Keith with harsh words, and occasionally harsher fists. Keith, for his part, never hesitated to retaliate in kind. It usually took the combined strength of Takashi and Axle to pull them apart, and even then they didn't come away unscathed.

The only thing he could beat Keith in was archery. And at first, he was proud. But afterwards, when he was holding the intricate bow carved by Keith's mother, with him lurking in the back of the crowd like a shadow, it didn't feel like much of a victory.


	8. Chapter 8

A month had passed since dragon training had begun, and even though Keith and Lance were making amends, tensions grew ever higher. Katya was getting more and more short-tempered with every day of inactivity that passed. When not training she was reading what little books they had on the island or working with the dragons, but the constant reminder of the Galra's cruelty did nothing to calm her. The boys had, at this point, stopped trying to placate her. Lance was still reeling from the whiplash of seeing Katya grooming her dragon to Katya growling and kicking the washbucket as hard as she could.

It was a crisp foggy day and it was a day in which nearly everyone was avoiding Katya, who according to her brother, had woken up with Odin's temper and was ready to lash out at a moment's notice. Although it seemed that Allura hadn't gotten the notice, she had been going around asking after the younger girl, wanting to get her opinion on improvements for Soothesongs saddle. And even though the boys wouldn't make eye contact with her when she mentioned Katya, she managed to wring it out of Coran, who had seen the angered teen stomp off towards the far north of the island.

Lance had found her saddling up and when she told him of her plan he immediately tried to stop her. "Allura, I'm serious Pidge has been edge for weeks now. Just leave her alone she needs time to blow off steam, trust me it'll be better for all of us."

"Lance if she's hurting I think it's our job as her friends to try and help her."

"Yeah and if she was hurting I would be there to help her, but she's not hurting, she's _furious_. And if we go try to talk to her we'll end up hurting, trust me I'm her favorite punching bag." Allura sighed and reluctantly began removing the saddle, he knew Katya better then she.

"What is she so upset about anyways?"

"It's about dad." Lance and Allura startled as Mat spoke from behind them, having stepped into Allura's stable without them noticing. "She's frustrated that we haven't flown out to save him yet." Lance nodded somberly, he guessed that was what had been bothering her; and he had recognized that Keith hadn't been much better. Allura looked astonished, as if she had never thought that waiting would have a _negative_ effect. Then all at once she was a flurry of activity, saddling Soothesong, mounting her, and pushing past the two astonished males without another thought.

They ran after her but she paid them no mind and continued on and out of the clutch of huts. It was a quiet journey to the north side of the island, occasionally interrupted by an affectionate Terrible Terror. But all the while Allura was contemplating Katya, she was a very smart young woman but she was all too eager to rush into battle without thinking of the big picture. Allura used to be like that too when she was younger, but being responsible for all the freed dragons in the viking world was a lot of responsibility for two people. They had been cautious and calm for so long, always playing the long game; they had never had to worry about the short-term. But for Keith and Katya that was all that mattered at the moment. Allura realized she must have seemed awfully selfish up until this point.

She had reached the north side of the island without spotting Katya as of yet but she continued her search for her. It wasn't until Allura had crested the hill nearest the sea did she see Katya. The viking girl was leaned against a tree with her map open on her lap, Mat's Terrible Terror curled against her side, but she was glaring at the choppy sea. Allura gently cleared her throat to make her presence known, Katya looked at her from the corner of her eye but didn't say anything.

"Katya I came up here to check on you, I've heard you've been feeling rather upset lately."

"..."

"I know that you miss your father an-"

"Do you even have a plan?"

"Excuse me?"

"When Chief Iverson didn't come to help Mat did you come up with a new plan? Or are you just hoping that we'll get distracted by dragons and forget why we're here in the first place?"

"No of course not! The dragons are part of the plan."

"Ok then what's the next part?" Katya was standing now and approaching Allura. "We have the dragons and we've trained the dragons. What are we doing now?"

"We're waiting for the right time, we can't just fly in without a plan. You have to think of the bigger picture Katya, we're not just freeing your father and Keith's brother we also have to save all of the other dragons."

"They could help us with that! We just need to go _get_ them."

"And do you have a plan? Or are you just suggesting we fly in mindlessly."

" _Of course_ I have a plan!" Allura stood shocked, not expecting the emphatic response. "I've had a plan for a while just none of you have asked!"

"Well then...what's your plan?" Katya smiled for the first time in their terse conversation and pointed at the storm grey clouds over the horizon. "That storm has been accumulating for a couple days and I believe it's going to go over the Galra web of islands. My plan is that we fly in over it and attack under the cover of the storm. Then we'll go into the coliseum save my father and Takashi and regroup. We train Takashi how to fly then attack once more to save the other dragons."

"That could work." Allura nodded contemplatively and kept her gaze on the clouds. "You know my father used to call storms like that Skrill weather. Skrills were magnificent dragons that could harness Thor's power themselves to wreck mass destruction. Hopefully you all will do the same."

The girls had returned to the huts and gathered the others on the island, once the plan was relayed to everyone they began preparing to attack. Saddles were modified, weapons were handed out, and dragons were coddled. Allura and Coran were secretly worried that the dragons would be too traumatized to be proper battle beasts but they didn't share their concerns exactly, they didn't want to psyche out their new riders. But they did encourage them to treat their dragons extra special before take off, as a precaution.

Night had fallen and they were finally ready to take off, apprehension sat deep in their stomachs and determination was palpable in the air. Allura had to stay behind, as Soothesong couldn't fly, so she waved them off as Coran and the other riders flew off on their rescue mission. The higher they flew up and into the storm the faster the rain flew into their faces, until it felt like Odin was throwing rocks at them. But they persevered and finally broke into the cloud bank above the storm. The silence after the chaos of the storm was startling but they deigned not to break it and continued on in contemplative thought.

Finally after a long stretch of quiet flying Coran called out to them from the front of the pack. "The Coliseum is just up ahead. If we're going to have any chance at succeeding we have to take out their catapults first. So on my signal we'll dive down and do it quick, if we get into trouble retreat back up here. I wish you all luck." Katya took a deep breath at the thought of the approaching battle, but Matt leaned over and ruffled her hair; making her laugh and calming her down. Slightly.

With a quick rise and fall of his fist, Coran signalled the attack. Lance and Keith immediately sent their dragons into a dive bomb, disappearing beneath the clouds within seconds. The others having slightly slower dragons followed close behind. For a moment everything was gray as Katya and Matt directed Thought and Chatter down through the clouds, and the moisture pressed closely against Katya's face. Then they were back under the storm, rain pelting onto her exposed skin like pins and needles.

Down below, Keith and Lance were wreaking havoc. Two catapults were already ablaze, and as the rest of the team caught up Red doused another in flames. Over the roar of the wind and beating wings, Katya could barely hear Keith yelling encouragement to his dragon. Lance had taken up a position over the enemy docks, shredding sails and sniping down sailors left and right, just as they had discussed. Ending the potential sea battle before it started. Once they were in range, the Holt siblings peeled off from Coran and Hunk, making a beeline for what Coran had told them to look for.

The stone fighting ring, covered by a metal mesh dome. It was sturdier than it looked, as made plain when they landed their dragon atop it and it didn't budge. Their job was to get rid of this and release the dragons being held in the cells surrounding the ring, but from the looks of it, that was going to be easier said than done.

Thought let out an angry shriek, and Katya looked down in irritation. There were Galra running around underneath the dome, waving various weapons over their heads. It was only a matter of time until one of them drew out a bow.

Katya was struck by an idea, and she reached over to nudge her brother. She nodded downwards when he looked over, and received an evil grin in return. He knew what to do.

Katya tugged gently on Thought's horns, and she responded easily, expelling her green gas into the pit below. There were echoing shouts of general alarm from the Galra, and a smirk crept onto her lips. This was going to be fun.

Once the whole ring was filled with eerily shifting green smoke, Matt urged his head forward. Chatter pressed her face against the chain link dome, and with one spark, ignited the gas. There was a _whoosh_ as it ignited, and a moment later the air was filled with screams and the scent of burning flesh. It should have unnerved Katya, but with the adrenaline rushing through her, it didn't bother her.

The blast had loosened the metal where it was joined together, and with one wrench from both of their dragons heads, a large portion of the center tore away with a great scraping groan. They puttered off to the side to drop it, and then turned back to the rest of the battlefield.

The others had made quick work of the Galra soldiers sent after them. Corpses were strewn about, the catapults and the ships forming a startling impromptu bonfire. Katya whistled sharply to signal that they had a way in, and one by one the dragons swooped into the stone ring.

There was a soft _whump_ as each dragon touched the ground, and then a tap as their rider dismounted.

"Whoo!" Lance cried, face flushed and eyes sparkling from the rush of battle. "This is _awesome!_ Why did we wait so long?"

Hunk didn't look as excited as he tumbled off of his Gronckle, clapping a hand over his mouth to stop himself from vomiting at the sight of a charred corpse.

"Keep it together, Riders." Coran ordered, looking unusually serious. Keith drew his sword, just as wary. "It's far from over."

Luckily for them Coran was still on guard, as he was able to direct an attack from Skycracker right at the squad of Galra that burst out the gate on the opposite side of the ring. The center of the group collapsed as several soldiers dropped, but a few of them had dove to the side and avoided the blast. Unfortunately for the slower guards they proved that Thunderdrums could in fact explode a man's head at close range. The remaining guards rushed at the riders, weapons drawn and war cries in their throats.

"Spine shot!" Lance called to Glorywing, and spines immediately flew from his dragon's tail, directed at the two coming from the left. One caught a man in the center of the chest, the dragon's spine digging straight through his leather chestplate, and he crumbled with a wet moan. The other was stabbed cleanly through his shoulder, and his mace tumbled from his hand.

One of the soldiers on the right had almost gotten within striking distance of Hunk, but before he could take the chance Snack's strong tail was flattening him against the stone wall with a sickening _crunch_.

Now there was only one man left standing, and Keith rushed him, sword raised high above his head with two hands. The man froze, hazel eyes widening in what could have been fear. Katya suddenly clutched onto her brother's arm. Burning their way in here had been one thing, but she wasn't sure she was ready to see a man cleaved in two. Thankfully, it didn't come to that.

"Wait!" The man cried, letting his sword clatter to the ground. "Wait!"

Keith's steps faltered, caught off guard by the request, and the man took the opportunity to keep speaking, eyes locked on Keith's face.

"You. You're Krolia's boy, aren't you?"

Keith stopped completely, standing over the man, who had collapsed to his knees. Katya couldn't see his face, but she didn't need to to know how he must be feeling right now. She herself was utterly confused, and just a little bit suspicious.

How did he know Keith's mom? And how did he recognize Keith, for that matter? He didn't look that much like Krolia. Matt elbowed her, shooting her a questioning look, but she just shrugged helplessly.

"How- how do you know my mom?" Keith forced out, voice sounding choked as he hoisted his sword again.

"She and I were close friends." the man responded, holding out his hands in a placating gesture. "My name is Thace. She sent me a letter, just the one, just after you were born. She said the two of you were safe, and that the two of us would never meet save some terrible circumstance." His brow furrowed vexedly. "What terrible thing has happened?"

"Why should we tell you?" Lance snapped from the sidelines, finally dragging Thace's gaze away from Keith.

"I want to help."

"Why?" Keith demanded, his voice much stronger now.

"I didn't agree with what they did to your father." he said grimly, and Katya saw Keith's shoulders shudder. "Or to Krolia. Or the dragons, for that matter. I want to help."

Katya shoved her way forward, ignoring her brother grasping at her shoulders. She wasn't going to waste this guys hospitality. Besides, if he turned out to be lying they could always feed him to one of the dragons.

"We're looking for someone." she said firmly, meeting Thace's eyes from where he still knelt on the floor. "Well, two someones. They would've come in about a month or so ago. One of them is missing an arm."

Thace looked at her, then flicked his eyes to Matt behind her, then back again.

"Yes," he said calmly. "I know of whom you speak. I can take you to them."

"Best get on with it then." Coran said, stepping forward with a grim expression. "Time is of the essence."

Thace nodded and looked at Keith expectantly, who slowly lowered his sword. No one took the time to ask him how Thace knew him as they followed the man in question into the tunnels under the Coliseum, but the tension in the air promised future discussions. For Katya at least, it was the farthest thing from her mind. All she was capable of caring about at this moment was finding her father.

Thace led them into a subterranean prison block, cells lining both sides of the dimly lit hallway. They took so many twists and turns Katya vaguely wondered if he really was trying to trick them, until he suddenly stopped. Carefully selecting a key from a series of hooks on the wall, he made his way over to one of the doors and unlocked it.

"You two." he said, gesturing to Katya and Matt. "The one you seek is inside."

Katya started forward, but Matt grabbed her elbow. When she looked back, he was regarding Thace with suspicious eyes.

"How do you know who we're looking for?" he asked. To their surprise, a small smile curved Thace's lips.

"You look just like him." he said, and pushed the door open.

This time when Katya moved forward, Matt followed with hesitant, trembling steps. The cell was small, dark, and cold, but the torchlight from the corridor just barely allowed the shape of a cot to be distinguishable against the far wall. As well as the shape crumpled atop it.

Katya's breath caught in her throat, and her steps echoed as she hastened across the floor. Up close, she could begin to make out features. A thin frame, pale skin, thinning light hair. A familiar nose and chin, those laugh lines and crow's feet at the edges of his eyes.

"Dad?" Matt whispered behind her in disbelief. The man on the cot stirred, starting to awaken from his slumber. Suddenly Katya could speak again, and her voice exploded from her.

"Dad!" She threw herself forward, clutching desperately at the malnourished figure on the cot. Her brother followed suit as she felt her father tensing up under her hands.

"K-katya?" he asked hesitantly, his voice cracking. Whether from emotion or dehydration, Katya couldn't tell.

"Yes, yes dad it's me, I'm here, me and Matt, we're gonna get you out of here." She babbled nonsensically, pressing her cheek against the rough fabric of her father's tunic. She felt light, hesitant fingers on her back, and tears leapt into her eyes.

"Mathias?"

"Thank Thor." her brother mumbled. He repeated it over and over, like a hushed prayer.

"My children." her father whispered to himself, clutching them to him. "My brave, brave children."

Matt was crying softly into their father's chest, and Katya was close behind. But still, she forced herself to pull away.

"We've gotta go." she said urgently. "We've gotta get Shiro and go. Can you walk?"

Carefully, with Matt's support, their father was able to get to his feet. Katya's heart broke when she saw how thin and emaciated he was, but she couldn't dwell on it now. She had to focus on getting them out of here in one piece.

She left the cell ahead of her family, taking in Lance and Hunk's happy expressions and looking for Keith. She was expecting to see him having a similarly happy reunion with Shiro, but instead he was standing outside of another open door, speaking urgently with Thace. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides, probably itching to wrap around the hilt of his sword.

"Keith." she said softly as she approached. "What's wrong?"

Keith looked down at her, eyes shining with worry. "Shiro isn't here."

"I know where he might be." Thace cut in. "But we have to hurry. If he's not here, he must be with the master of the Coliseum, which is… less than ideal."

She turned back to where Matt was helping their father out of the cell.

"Matt," she said, jogging back over to them. "Matt, you go with Coran, get Dad ready to go on one of the dragons. I'm going with Keith to look for Shiro."

"If you're sure." Matt said uneasily, while their father gaped at her.

"I'm sure. Go, now!"

Matt nodded resolutely, and he and Coran headed back the way they had come.

"We have to return to the ring as well." Thace said once they had gone. "But I know another route. Follow."

Keith was right on Thace's heels, leaving the others no choice but to follow as well.

"Keith, are you sure about-" Lance tried, but Keith cut him off with a scowl.

"Shut up." he snapped. Lance set his jaw, not willing to let the matter rest.

"Thace." he said, and the man replied a little breathlessly from their quick pace.

"Yes?"

"How did you recognize Keith?"

"He looks a great deal like his father."

"So you knew his dad, too?" Lance's voice was suspicious, and Katya resisted the urge to tell him to be quiet as well.

"This is not the time." Thace replied, a new edge appearing in his voice. Lance grumbled but followed along in silence as they ran through the dark hallways. The tension mounted as they ran in lieu of finding Takashi. Katya saw that Lance and Keith were itching to speak out again but they were stopped before they could, because two quick turns later, they were pushing through a gate and back out into the ring.

Once they were inside they were halted by the startling sight. A tall Galran man with long white hair was holding Takashi at sword point. Forcing him to calm down a rather strange looking, but agitated dragon. While dozens of other dragons flew around them in a frantic swirl, taking turns escaping through the break in the dome. Upon noticing their arrival the man turned to them and grinned, while still keeping the sword trained on Takashi.

"Well look Shiro the pesky intruders have found us. I guess that puts our escape on a little bit of a hold now doesn't it."

(Author Change)

Shiro's eyes darted up when the man spoke, widening to the size of tree stumps when he saw the group gathered at the entrance to the stone fighting ring.

"Keith?" His voice sounded choked and rough, but then he was wincing as the Galra pressed the tip of his sword harder between his shoulder blades. The dragon he was trying to soothe, who looked like a slightly pointier and greener version of Red, gave an angry shriek and Shiro desperately looked back at it, whispering something too quietly for them to hear.

True to Matt's word, his right arm was missing, cut a few inches below his shoulder. The wound was wrinkled and ugly, long since healed but not cleanly. Shiro was holding his left hand out to the dragon, flicking his eyes anxiously back and forth between the Galran man, Keith, and his dragon. He wore the same ratty prisoner wear as Katya's father, but his had significantly more bloodstains on it.

Adrenaline had been rushing through Keith's veins for far too long by this point, and now he felt hot fury joining it. The man holding Shiro had an infuriatingly smug look on his face, and he tossed his head dramatically as Keith glared at him. Slowly, Keith drew his sword from its sheath, dragging out the metallic shiiiiiiiing. The man raised an eyebrow, but his smirk didn't waver.

"Let him go." Keith ordered, his voice a low, cold growl.

"No, I don't think I will." responded the Galra. Behind him, Red exhaled hotly over Keith's spine.

"I'll kill you." Keith warned, gripping the hilt of his blade until his knuckles turned white.

"I'd very much like to see you try." said the other man, and with a dramatic flourish, raised his free hand. Almost immediately Red let out a small squawk, and her claws scraped over the stone as she backed away.

Keith risked taking his eyes off of the Galra man to look at Red with concern. He had never seen her afraid before, not truly, but now she was almost cowering. Her and all of the other dragons, come to think of it. Thought and Chatter were yanking away from Katya and Matt, Glorywing was scrambling back despite Lance's reassurances, and even steadfast Snack looked uncertain.

He turned angry eyes back to the blonde man as the puzzle pieces clicked in his head. All of their dragons had come from here, wounded. They recognized this man, and they had been trained to fear him. The man took a step forward, forcefully gesturing, and the dragons continued to retreat with growing sounds of alarm. They wouldn't be any help in this fight.

"My name is Lotor." the man said with a sick smirk, almost conversationally. "And I am the master of this Coliseum."

"I don't care." Keith shot back, voice full of venom as he slipped into his battle stance.

"No need to be rude." Lotor continued, seemingly unmoved by Keith's obvious aggression. "There's no reason we can't be friends. After all, I was going to offer you a deal."

"No." Keith snapped. "No deals." He shifted on the balls of his feet, but didn't move. His blood sang, shrieking for him to rush forward and cut the man down where he stood. But the shine of the blade against Shiro's skin kept him frozen in place. All of the others seemed to have come to the same conclusion, as none of them moved to attack either.

Lotor noticed their lack of action, and if he smirked any wider his cheeks would probably split. He glanced over his shoulder, back at where he still had Shiro pinned under the tip of his sword.

"It seems you don't have much of a choice."

"Fine." Keith huffed, recognizing when he was trapped. "What do you want?"

Shiro looked at him with alarmed eyes, and Lance said his name in a warning tone, but Keith ignored both of them, keeping his gaze fixed on Lotor's irritating face.

"Nothing amazingly valuable. Just a little test of skill."

Keith narrowed his eyes. "What does that mean?"

"I want one of you to fight me. One on one, no dragons, just swords. I expect it'll be you, but I'm not picky."

Keith couldn't help how his brow furrowed in confusion, but Lotor apparently wasn't finished speaking.

"If you win, your precious Takashi goes free, and you may take me as your prisoner."

"What makes you think we wouldn't just kill you?" Keith growled, and to his irritation, Lotor laughed.

"What you do with me is your choice, but I assure you I'm worth much more alive."

"And if I lose?"

"If you lose," Lotor twisted his wrist, and Shiro cringed a little as the tip of his sword dug into his skin. Keith clenched his jaw until he thought his teeth would shatter. "You both die."

"Keith, think about what you're doing!" Lance yelled from the sidelines, already guessing what Keith was going to do. "Why would he give himself up? It doesn't make any sense!"

But Keith didn't care. All he could see was Shiro's scared eyes, and at that moment nothing else mattered. He had to save Shiro, or he was going to die trying.

"Alright, fine, I'll do it."

"Keith!"

"Shut _up_ , Lance!"

"Excellent. Shall we begin?" With a sick smile, Lotor removed his sword from Shiro and shoved him out of the way. He stumbled and had to grab onto his dragon's neck to stay upright, staring at Keith in utter terror.

"Keith, don't do this!" he shouted, ignoring the look he got from Lotor. "He'll kill you!"

"It'll be fine, Shiro." Keith responded, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. "Everything'll be fine."

 _Even if I die, the others will get you out of here, deal or no deal._

Lotor shook his shoulders, plastering his smirk back over his face. He slid smoothly into his battle stance, sword held out towards Keith, beckoning. Keith took a deep breath, steeled himself, and rushed.

Lotor blocked easily, their swords singing metallically as Keith was forced away. Keith rushed again; Lotor blocked again. Rush. Block. Rush. Block. A never ending pattern.

"Come on, Keith!" Pidge cried shrilly from the sidelines, and Keith stumbled back. His breath was heavy, braid falling out, sweat salty on his lips. Lotor was pristine and untouched, infuriating smirk still shining.

Keith resisted the urge to immediately rush him again. This clearly wasn't going to work, he had to think, had to be smart about it.

 _Patience yields focus._

Stilling the trembling in his arms, he made to rush again. Lotor moved to block just as before, but Keith spun at the last second, reappearing behind him. His opponent was quick enough to turn and block still, but he at least looked flustered now. With a scowl, he flicked his wrist, retaliating by leaving a thin red line across Keith's cheekbone. But he hardly felt the pain.

 _Lotor is quick, but I can be quicker. So long as he doesn't see me coming._

If Keith was good at anything, it was being unpredictable. And it soon became clear that Lotor's speed was significantly less helpful to him when he didn't know where his opponent was coming from. Keith danced circles around him, a blur of steel and pale skin while Lotor struggled to block. He hadn't managed to break through yet, but Lotor was weakening, eyes hazing as he became disoriented. He was the one wearing the smirk now.

There was a moment, just a brief wobble of Lotor's sword, and Keith took the opportunity to break through his defense.

He succeeded in knocking his sword to the side and swung for the neck. Lotor barely jerked back in time, blonde hair flowing around him in yellow waves. Keith grabbed a handful of it and pulled.

Lotor let out a screech, half angry half pained, and made to stab. Keith dodged, and the blade slid along the surface of his right shoulder, going right through his armor like a knife through butter.

He yelled, feeling hot blood rush down his shoulder and tasting the copper in the air. But he didn't let go. He and Lotor grappled, all pretense of a normal sword fight forgotten. They were far too close to use their blades effectively, and now it was just a game of who could stab the other first.

Someone, or several someones, were yelling, but he couldn't distinguish between the voices. Sweat dripped into his eyes, his arm burned like Odin had a point to prove, and Lotor's face was inches from his own, locked into a grimace of concentration. Keith still hadn't left a scratch on him.

He still had a fistful of blonde tresses. Leaning himself to the side, he forced his entire body to go limp. They both tumbled to the stone floor of the arena, Lotor screaming and Keith knocking his elbows harshly against the ground. Using Lotor's hair for leverage, he hauled himself up and over, straddling Lotor like he had straddled Matt that day on the beach.

He tossed his sword to the side, hearing it skitter across the stone, and sunk his other hand into Lotor's hair.

 _He's really going to regret this hairstyle._

Lotor was bringing up his sword, but his arm dropped again when Keith slammed his head into floor. He did it again, and his fingers loosened from the hilt completely. Keith smashed his head one more time, just for good measure, and smirked when he saw blood on the stone.

"Give up?" he snarled. Lotor lay there for a moment, dazed, probably with a concussion. Blood from Keith's shoulder dripped onto his cheek.

Lotor raised his hands weakly, not bringing the sword with them.

"I give up."

Keith's stomach twisted. He had won, so why did it feel like Lotor was mocking him? Growling deep in his throat, he slammed Lotor's head back against the rock.

"Keith!" Someone yelled. He couldn't tell who. "Keith, stop! It's over!"

But Lotor was chuckling. "My, my." he chortled. "So vicious, aren't you? If I didn't know better I'd say you were a Galra soldier."

Keith saw red. He could've killed Lotor in that moment, he wanted to, he could slam his head back again and again until he turned his brain to mush, take revenge for what he did to Shiro-

"Keith." He knew that voice. It wasn't angry or panicked, it was just sad. Pleading.

He looked up to see Shiro watching him with soft grey eyes, his one remaining hand planted on the snout of his strange green dragon.

Shiro said his name again. "Keith. You already won. You don't have to keep going."

He looked back down at Lotor. He wasn't smirking anymore, just the slightest upturn of his lips spoke to that sick mocking feeling Keith had gotten. His fingers tightened into Lotor's hair… and then loosened and sat back.

"Bind him." he said, voice strung out with exhaustion. He wasn't sure who he was talking to, but he heard footsteps behind him, people following his order anyway. He staggered upright, clutching his shoulder, and collected his mother's expensive sword.

Then he went to hug his brother.

(A/N The beginning of this chapter, up until the dragon fight, was written by Goddesgirl and the rest by me. Enjoy.

UNC-

Silence)


	9. Chapter 9

Getting them all back home was… a process. First off they had to try and convince one of the dragons to carry a bound and gagged Lotor, which none of the lizards were happy about. Eventually Snack accepted the burden, though he snarled and growled whenever Lotor budged, which Katya could appreciate. Honestly she was leaning towards killing the bastard, but it wasn't just up to her.

Coran volunteered to carry her father on Skycracker, and though she'd wanted to argue, she'd relented. Sam was weakened by his time in captivity and it would be more comfortable for him on the relatively flat and steady Thunderdrum.

Thace rode with Lance. The boy had advocated for binding him as well, but he'd been outvoted and begrudgingly allowed him on Glorywing, though he watched the man with a suspicious eye.

Shiro, unsurprisingly, went with Keith. The boy in question looked exhausted, covered in bruises and cuts and still dripping blood, but he had a tiny relieved smile on his face, and no one dared try and get Shiro away from him at the moment.

And so the group flew away from the destroyed Coliseum, not one of them saying a word when the green dragon followed them.

Katya and Matt kept their dragon behind Skycracker, both of them keeping their gaze on the crumpled form of their father. She had so much relief roiling in her stomach she could've been sick.

 _I got him back. I got all of them back._

Allura was waiting on the shore when they returned, soaked through with the rain that had already passed by the island. Her eyebrows quirked noticeably when she did a headcount and found two extra people and one extra dragon.

"No questions right now." Coran told her firmly when they'd all landed. "Some of our group need a healers attention."

He could say that again. She was torn between rushing to help her father, who was struggling to get off of the dragon, and Keith, who was pale and practically fell off of Red.

Matt slid off of Chatter's neck, giving it a pat before stepping away.

"Pidge, I'll help dad. You go get Keith."

Katya gave him a grateful smile before dismounting.

Shiro was trying to hold up Keith with his one good arm, but he still had to lean a lot of his weight on Red as well. The picture didn't get any prettier when Katya got closer.

There was a lot of blood. It soaked the right side of his torso, ran down his arm in rivulets and dripped off the tips of his fingers. She couldn't see the depth of the wound, but there was a sizable cut through his armor.

"Hey," she murmured when she got close enough. "How are you feeling?"

"A little… woozy." He mumbled back. He didn't even have the energy to insist he was fine, which clued her in on how much blood he'd lost.

Red nudged at him with her snout and blew a little smoke at him, but he didn't react very much, and the dragon gave a little alarmed squawk.

"Ok, here's what's gonna happen-"

" _Lotor?!_ "

Allura's exclamation drew all of their attention back to her, where she was staring with a mix of astonishment and revulsion at their prisoner. Lotor, still bound and gagged atop Snack, simply raised his eyebrows.

"Allura-"

She whirled on Matt, who was struggling to support his father while Coran unsaddled Skycracker.

"Why is _he_ here?"

"He was the master of the Coliseum." Katya explained. "We thought he might have some information on the Galra."

"Oh, I'm sure he does." Allura's voice was dark and terrifying. "He's not just the master of the Coliseum. He's Zarkon's son."

* * *

Allura promptly confiscated the two Galra men, dragging them both to her hut to be interrogated, while Katya and Matt took their father, Keith, and Shiro to theirs to treat them. Lance and Hunk volunteered to settle the dragons- except for Red, who trailed along behind Keith and snorted sparks at anyone who touched her. She waited outside Katya's hut, one eye peering in through a window.

"Alright, everybody sit down." said Matt as he rolled up his sleeves. "Pidge, get food for Dad and Shiro." They all obeyed, Sam collapsing onto Matt's bed while Shiro and Keith slumped into chairs. Matt filled up a bowl with water from the rain barrel outside and went directly to Keith.

"Armor off." he instructed briskly. Keith was sluggish and struggled to do as he was told, but shot daggers at Matt when he tried to help. By the time he succeeded in removing the leather chestplate Katya had returned and was pressing a loaf of bread into her father's hand, trying to persuade him to eat.

Matt didn't bother making him take his shirt off, just tore the shoulder off and began wiping away the blood. Shiro watched anxiously from beside them even as Katya bustled over and started hounding him to eat too.

"Odin's dick." Matt swore under his breath. Katya paused and glanced over, only to feel herself go pale when she saw the wound. It was deeper than she thought.

"That bad, huh?" asked Keith. His words were mumbled and slurred, eyes unfocused. Katya bit back her panic and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Nothing we haven't seen before." she said with her best attempt at a confident smile. "We are Vikings, after all."

Keith's lips barely twitched in answer.

"You're going to need stitches." declared Matt as he straightened up. "Pidge, you go get supplies please." She spared a glance for their father, but he'd fallen fast asleep on Matt's bed. He'd be fine for the time being. As she left for the second time Matt turned to Shiro.

"I'm staying." he said before Matt could even open his mouth. Matt only shrugged.

"If you say so, but you might have to let him lean on you. Come on, Keith, we're moving to the bed."

Together Matt and Shiro helped Keith across the room to Katya's bed, a fact she was not pleased about when she returned.

"Why are we doing this on _my_ bed?" she groaned. "We're gonna get blood all over it!"

"Better yours than mine." Matt snarked back. Keith tipped over and leaned his head on Shiro's shoulder, eyes threatening to close before Shiro jostled him.

"Stay awake, bud." he murmured to him, just as Matt held out one of the tankards Katya had brought back with her.

"You're going to drink three of these. And then we're going to stitch you up. The faster you get drunk the faster we can all go to bed." Internally Katya was marveling at Matt's newfound ability to take charge. Externally, she just made a dry remark about his bedside manner and received a glare for her trouble.

Katya was the one who actually put the stitches into Keith's shoulder, having steadier hands than Matt, and then her brother wrapped the whole thing in bandages. They all went to bed when the moon was low in the sky and the horizon was turning mauve in preparation for the rising sun. Despite this fact, her exhaustion, her sore muscles, and the lingering scent of burning flesh in her nostrils, Katya fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Her family was finally whole again.

* * *

The next morning Katya watched as Allura paced around her hut, around and around, walking circles around Lotor who was still bound in the center of the room. His arms must have been paining him after being restrained for so long, and the back of his head was still a mess of blood from where Keith had slammed him into the ground, but a smirk remained firmly planted on his face. She was beginning to understand why Keith had gone so hard on him before.

Allura paused and turned on her heel to face her prisoner. She opened her mouth and paused, contemplating what to say to this man whom she so clearly hated, then shut it again and resumed her pacing.

She didn't have much room to do so. All of them stood in the hut surrounding their prisoner, all except Shiro, Sam, and Keith, who were still strictly under bedrest with Red standing vigilant guard outside of their door.

Katya squared her shoulders at the thought of them. Lotor had hurt every single one of them- he was cruel and conniving, and she absolutely could not let her guard down.

Finally Allura stopped her pacing and stood before Lotor, drawing herself up to her full height. Lotor only looked up from his position on his knees with a bored lift of his eyebrow.

"So," Allura began, and even that one word had chills running down Katya's spine. Her voice was as cold and regal as she'd ever heard it, leaving no room for lies or arguments. "Are you going to tell us what you know willingly, or must we make this messy?"

"That won't be necessary." Lotor was entirely too comfortable for Katya's taste, and her fingers itched with the sudden urge to punch that stupid smirk right off of his face.

The blonde man rolled his shoulders. He winced just a little, which Katya found gratifying, before he began to speak.

"The first thing you all need to know is that my father is not dead. Or, at the very least, he isn't anymore."

Dead. Silence.

Until Lance threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"Will you people make up your minds?! Is this guy alive or dead?"

Lotor blinked, surprised by Lance's outburst, but recovered his composure quickly, the smirk never leaving his lips.

"Don't blame your companions for their faulty information." He said with an imperious toss of his head. "My father did die after his fight with the other dragon riders; my mother brought him back to life with her witchcraft. The wrong decision if you ask me, but she always was a traditionalist."

Katya immediately snorted derisively.

 _Witchcraft? Pffft, like hell._

Allura's expression was stone. "If you're going to lie to us you're going to have to try harder than that."

"Points for creativity though." Lance chimed in, leaning up against Hunk, who so far had remained silent.

"I wish I was lying." sighed Lotor. "Dying did his temper no favors."

"You don't honestly expect us to believe that, do you?" Katya snapped, suddenly unable to hold her tongue any longer. "You gave yourself up to us, you're probably feeding us false information!"

Lotor shot her a bored look. "I assure you, _little girl,_ no one hates my father as much as I do. If he was a tyrant before, he's infinitely worse now. Not even his dragon can bear to go near him."

Coran and Allura exchanged a look, both wearing matching raised eyebrows, and Allura was stepping forward before Katya could tear into him for his _little girl_ comment.

"Tell us about his dragon." She demanded. Her lips were pressed tightly together, turning the skin around her mouth white as she waited for Lotor's answer.

"Well, as you probably know already, it's a Boneknapper by the name of Night." Lotor's eyes took on a distinct glitter. "A truly magnificent beast. Used to be loyal to a fault. But after he died and came back, Night wouldn't have anything to do with him. That's why he let people think he was still dead- he knew that without his dragon, no one would take him seriously."

Allura's hand clasped behind her back again and she resumed her pacing. Katya watched her for a long moment with a frown before speaking up.

"Allura, you're not actually believing him, are you?"

Allura didn't answer her, and Katya crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. Lotor observed this interaction with a look that Katya certainly did _not_ appreciate, and she shuffled just a step or two closer to Hunk.

She had no idea how long they just stood and watched Allura pace before Coran cleared his throat and stepped in.

"Perhaps we should take a brief recess." He said, reaching out to stop Allura as she passed by. "Matthias, would you mind checking over our guests injuries?"

Matt didn't look happy, but he nodded anyway and bent to his task as the rest of them shuffled out of the hut.

Katya liked to think she knew a lot of things. She knew how to craft and forge a sword, she knew the classes of dragons and how to tell them apart, she knew which herbs cured a fever and which eased pain. These were things that made sense. They were a hard science.

But magic? That was reserved for gods and their offspring, not for mere mortals to tamper with. The idea that Haggar had even dared…

"Is any of this making sense to anybody?" Hunk asked once they were all outside.

"Not me." Muttered Katya, arms still crossed. She shot a glance over at her hut, where Red and Shiro's green dragon lounged, strategically placed in front of the door. Every so often Red would roll a yellow eye in their direction, as though to make sure Lotor was still secure before closing her lids again with a huff of smoke from her nostrils.

"I don't trust him." She continued firmly. "Every word is a lie. He's feeding us false information for sure."

Allura pressed her lips into a thin line. Gods forbid, she actually looked like she was going to believe him.

"Perhaps we should speak to Thace." Suggested Coran. "Cross reference a bit."

"Thace could be in on it!" Lance protested with a wave of his arms. "Didn't any of you think it was weird how he recognized Keith?"

"Leave Keith out of it." Katya snapped.

"That's not what I meant. I just-"

"We'll speak to Thace." Allura interrupted, verging on a snap of her own, and set off at a brisk pace before any of the others could continue arguing.

"That's really not what I meant." Lance murmured to Katya as they rushed after Allura. Katya sighed, suddenly feeling a weight on her shoulders, making her spine bow.

"I know."

Thace had been put in a hut towards the edge of their little village, and it was strongly suggested to him that he shouldn't leave despite being left unbound. Apparently he'd listened, because they found him pacing circles around his hut to keep himself entertained, only pausing when he heard the door open.

"Allura." He said, inclining his head respectfully to her. She didn't return the gesture.

"Thace." Her voice had lost none of its chill. "We have some questions for you."

"Of course." Thace turned to face them entirely, heavy bags under his eyes signalling just how much rest he'd gotten the night before. "I'll give you all the information I can."

"Wait just a second." Interrupted Lance, fixing Thace with a narrowed eyed stare. "You're Galra. Why would you want to help us defeat your own tribe?"

His face did something complicated when faced with the question, caught somewhere between a thoughtful frown and a regretful grimace.

"It's… complicated." Lance just raised his eyebrows at that answer, and Thace sighed and was forced to elaborate. "The Galra weren't always so focused on empire building. In the old legends we valued honor above all else, and dragons were revered." His expression grew troubled as he spoke, and almost without realizing it he began to pace again.

"I never agreed with what they did to Krolia, what Zarkon did to the dragons."

"You mean what _you_ did to the dragons." Said, surprisingly, Hunk. "You were at the coliseum too."

Thace frowned at him. "I was merely a guard. I never touched a dragon."

Hunk scowled at him, and it looked so out of place on him that Katya immediately wanted to wipe it away. Before he could continue the argument, however, Allura waved her hand and cut him off.

"Thace, who is the current leader of the Galra?"

 _Right,_ Katya thought, _We're not here to determine his loyalty. We're here to check Lotor's intel._

"Officially, Sendak the Silent." Answered Thace without skipping a beat, but his wording caught Katya's attention.

"And _un_ officially?"

He shot her an appraising glance and, apparently liking what he saw, smiled. "There have been rumors of late." He explained, looking back to Allura and her stony eyes. "Rumors that Zarkon never truly perished, or that his wife brought him back with witchcraft."

"Do you believe the rumors?" Allura pressed. Thace hesitated for a moment.

"Yes." He answered eventually. "I never met Haggar personally, but she did come to the coliseum once to inspect it, and she's…" His brow furrowed. "It's hard to explain, but I believe if anyone was capable of something like that, it would be her."

The others glanced at each other, and for a bit there was silence in the hut as everyone tried to digest this information. Allura was frowning and whispering to Coran, and when she turned back to Thace, she seemed no happier for having gained this information.

"Earlier, you mentioned someone called Krolia. Who are they?"

Katya, Lance, and Hunk all froze, exchanging looks out of the corners of their eyes. Thace was looking to them as well, looking a little panicked, unsure of what was his to reveal.

"Gods be damned," Katya murmured, catching Allura's attention. "We never actually told her about that, did we?"

Hunk scratched the back of his head and said under his breath, "I _knew_ we forgot about something."

"Told me what?" She turned her sharp eyes on Katya, flickering briefly to the boys before landing back on her. Hunk fidgeted anxiously in the background.

"We should talk about this outside." Said Lance. His voice was easy, but his body language was tense. Allura looked him up and down, assessing, before twisting her mouth and nodding tightly. One by one they filed back out of the hut and into the bright sunlight, and Katya could feel Allura's suspicion like a physical thing hanging over her shoulder.

The moment they were all clear of the hut, she spoke up, not seeing the point in dragging out the suspense.

"Krolia is Keith's mother."

Allura stopped dead, her dark skin going several shades paler in her surprise. Coran stopped as well and raised his eyebrows dramatically at them, though for once he couldn't find anything to say.

"We didn't know she was Galra." Lance chimed in, probably trying to cool Allura down before her anger got too volatile.

"How could you not know?" Allura sounded like she was fighting mightily not to snap at them, but Katya still didn't appreciate her tone or the way her eyes shot over to their hut where Keith was staying with Shiro and her father.

"First of all, we didn't even know that the Galra existed before we left our island, and secondly because the Galra cut her tongue out and exiled her with nothing but a boat while she was six months pregnant." She snarled. "She couldn't tell anyone anything."

Allura was quiet, thinking, and in that silence they all heard Matt's footsteps as he emerged from the other hut and approached their little group.

"So?" He asked when he got close enough, clapping a hand on Katya's shoulder. "What did Thace say?"

"That there were rumors Zarkon was alive." Katya answered, seeing as no one else was gonna. "And he believes them."

"Is that why you all look like a bunch of kicked dogs?"

Katya reached up and wrapped her fingers around her brothers wrist. "We told Allura about Krolia."

Matt went very still. After a moment, he spoke again.

"Allura, Coran?" The two Alteans looked up at him. "You two should go finish with Lotor. He seems… antsy."

Allura raised an accusing eyebrow. "And what will the rest of you do?"

"I'm going to go check on my dad and Shiro." Matt replied easily, though his fingers tightened on Katya's shoulder. "Probably have to change Keith's bandages, too."

"I'll come with you." Katya volunteered.

Allura said nothing, and for a second just stood there, looking back and forth between the two of them. Tension crackled in the air.

"Allura." Lance said, taking a brave step towards her. "We're all on the same side, here."

Allura snapped her head away. "Let's go see what else Lotor knows." And then she was speed walking back towards Lotor's hut with Coran hot on her heels.

"That could've gone better." Said Hunk with just the tiniest bit of forced humor.

"You can say that again." Answered Lance.

Katya and Matt looked at each other, but didn't say anything as they turned in tandem to return to their hut, still guarded by the red and green dragons.

When the four of them reached the hut, Katya was surprised to see Shiro and Keith already awake. They sat on Katya's bed (which she was still grumpy about), Keith reclining against the wall while Shiro sat across from him, talking in low tones so that they didn't wake Sam across the room.

"So let me get this straight." Shiro was saying when they walked in. "You bonded with your dragon by sitting at the edge of a clearing and _staring at her_ until she gave in?"

"Yeah." Keith answered, letting out a small chuckle. "It took hours. She's almost as stubborn as I am."

Shiro shook his head. "You are absolutely ridiculous."

"Awwwwww, how sweet." Matt cooed sarcastically, making the two of them snap their attention to their visitors. "Brother bonding time."

"Shut up, Matt." Keith grumbled, moving to cross his arms in his traditional gesture, only to stop with a wince and change his mind.

"Did you guys find out anything from Lotor?" Asked Shiro, twisting around so that he was facing them instead of Keith. Keith scooted forward from the wall, also giving them his full attention. Katya hugged her arms to herself and frowned deeply.

"Not much." Matt answered for them as he crossed the room to perch on the edge of his bed where his father was resting. "Allura and Coran are still questioning him, but he said that Zarkon was still alive somehow, that his wife brought him back with magic."

Keith wrinkled his nose. "Mortals can't do magic." He said simply, as though that wrapped up the whole situation.

"And yet." Sighed Hunk, rubbing his forehead tiredly. Katya leaned up against the table on the far wall, still frowning to herself.

"Hey, Pidge." That was Lance, trying to get her attention. "Lotor said his dad's dragon was a Bonenapper. What is that?"

Katya hadn't given it much thought before, but as she opened her mouth to begin her explanation, she felt a chill go down her spine.

"A Bonenapper is a mystery class dragon. They're legendary scavengers, and they get their name because they plate themselves with the bones of other dragons to use as armor."

Katya didn't think to look at Lance or Hunk, but if she had she would've seen their faces go pale with fear. There was a pause, a heavy silence while Lance stared at his feet.

Then he balled his fists, scuffed his foot against the ground, and muttered, "This place sucks."

Matt frowned reproachfully at him, probably offended anyone could think a place full of dragons was anything less than paradise.

"What do you mean, Lance?"

"I _mean_ that first there's a war we know nothing about, then there's witchcraft, and now we have to worry about an evil dragon that _wears the bones of its victims!_ " His voice had steadily gotten louder through his sentence, but now it dropped back to a mutter. "Why in the Hel are we even here."

"Well, we came here to save Shiro and Sam." Hunk provided a little bashfully, staring at the floor. "Technically, we did that."

Katya got it. "So, if we wanted, we could just go home."

"What?" The word was a cold snap, and everyone turned to look at Keith in surprise after he said it. He looked absolutely livid. "We can't just _leave_ Allura and Coran to deal with Zarkon all by themselves. We can't just let Zarkon keep getting away with kidnapping people and torturing dragons!"

"I never signed up to fight a war, Keith." Lance replied scathingly. "I have a family back home."

"So do all of us." Was Keith's retort. "Everyone here has family back home, Lance. And you know as well as I do that Zarkon will never stop until he rules _everything_ , including our island. And you just want to let that happen?"

Lance opened his mouth and Shiro laid his hand on Keith's uninjured shoulder, but Keith ignored both of them and barreled forward in his argument.

"And what about our dragons? You don't actually think Iverson will let us keep our giant fire-breathing lizards, do you? Would you just leave Glorywing here?"

"Why are you so invested in this?" Lance questioned, folding his arms across his chest. "Seriously, I wanna know. Is it because your mom is Galra? Thanks for telling us that, by the way!"

Keith looked stunned for just a moment before he lashed back. "You're putting your own lives above the lives of everyone in the entire Archipelago!"

"Enough!" Shiro's roar made everyone in the room jump, and the anger simmering between the two boys abruptly cut off as their argument was interrupted.

Once he got their attention, Shiro only looked tired.

"Everyone should make their own decision about whether to stay or not." He said much more quietly, giving Keith a bit of a look that made him hunch his shoulders. On the other bed Sam stirred, awoken by the noise, and Matt laid a hand on his leg in reassurance.

Lance wasn't ready to let the issue die. "Did you know your mom was Galra?" He asked through gritted teeth. Katya found herself staring at Keith, waiting for his answer even as he looked away and tried to avoid their questioning eyes.

"She told me not to tell anyone." He admitted after a few seconds of hesitation. "I'm sorry." He was looking at Shiro when he said it, not at Lance.

Shiro blinked at him, looking shaken, and carefully took his hand off of Keith's shoulder.

"So even when we found out who we were fighting, you never thought that might be pertinent information?" Lance pressed, either not noticing what was happening between him and Shiro or not caring.

"No, I just-" Keith was still looking at Shiro, eyes almost pleading. "I thought if I told anyone you guys would make me leave, and I couldn't leave until I found Shiro."

"We wouldn't have done that, Keith." Said Katya without thinking.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Hunk put in. "Allura looked pretty angry."

Shiro was still just looking at Keith blankly, like he didn't quite grasp what was being said. Keith looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"I don't know that much, anyway." He said. No one could tell who he was trying to convince. Maybe all of them. Maybe himself. "All she told me was she used to be a part of a tribe called the Galra and they killed my father. She didn't say why. I swear I don't know anything."

Katya's feet moved without her permission, leading her to stand before Keith and gently touch the shoulder Shiro had vacated.

"It's alright, Keith." She said in as soothing a tone as she could manage. "Nobody's accusing you of anything, you don't have to defend yourself to us."

Shiro's breath whistled between his teeth when he breathed in. But then he gave a brittle smile and reached out for Keith again.

"I believe you." He said softly. "Your mom told you not to tell anyone, so you didn't. It's fine."

Keith slumped into Shiro's side, slightly hugging his injured arm to himself as though it was hurting him. It probably was, and it was only then that Katya realized how much blood had soaked into the bandage.

"Ok, enough arguing." She said firmly, casting a glance over her shoulder at Lance. He stuck his tongue out at her. "Come on, Keith, I'll change your bandage and then we'll go see what Allura and Coran have pried out of Lotor."

Keith frowned. "We can't trust him."

"Trust me buddy," Said Hunk under his breath, "We know."


	10. Chapter 10

"Oh my _gods_." Katya groaned, throwing her head back in irritation. "Keith, will you please go outside and deal with your _stupid_ dragon?"

It had been about an hour since the argument between Lance and Keith. They'd changed Keith's bandage and Matt had gone to speak to the Alteans as they planned, but apparently Allura hadn't been done interrogating Lotor and snapped at him when he came in. So he retreated back to the hut with instructions for them all to be patient and wait for Allura to finish.

And this would have been fine, if Red hadn't heard Keith's voice when he was arguing with Lance. Now she was pacing around the building, letting out a cacophony of concerned squawks and cries that were apparently driving Katya insane if the look on her face was anything to go by.

Keith sat up and tossed his legs over the side of the bed, wincing just slightly when his wound twinged. The stupid thing was going to bother him for weeks.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." He grumbled, staggering to his feet. He made his way out of the hut, carefully ignoring everyone's gazes.

He couldn't get that _look_ out of his head. That face Shiro had made when Lance announced that Keith was Galra. He'd pulled his hand away and looked at him like… like he didn't know Keith at all, and that was just too much for him.

The moment he stepped outside Red was upon him, and for a moment he forgot all about Shiro and all of that nonsense, because his dragon was shoving her snout against his uninjured side like she understood that he was hurt, blowing smoke in his face and making her happy warble so many times in sequence it sounded like she was purring.

"Hey, hey, Red." He was saying, barely understandable beneath his chuckles. "I'm ok, you can stop worrying."

She made an indignant sound which cut off in the middle when Keith scratched behind her horns with his good hand.

The dragon that had followed them home from the coliseum was a few yards away, watching them warily but not moving. It kept looking at the hut, and Keith wondered idly if it was worried about Shiro the way Red had been worried about him.

His question was answered when the door to the hut opened and Shiro himself stepped outside. The dragon didn't leap at him the way Red had done to Keith; instead it almost slinked up to him, keeping it's body low to the ground while Keith watched with interest. The dragon shoved it's snout towards Shiro, who got a hesitant look on his face.

Slowly, he lowered his hand onto the dragon's snout, and it closed its eyes like that was all it ever wanted.

"Have you named him yet?" Keith ventured to ask, making Shiro jerk his head up in surprise. He stared at Keith for a second, then his eyes softened and he looked back down at the dragon, who was waiting patiently.

"No."

"You should. He seems pretty attached to you."

Shiro hummed, not looking up. Keith turned his attention back to Red, who kept puffing smoke to get him to notice her again. There was silence for some time as Keith reassured Red and Shiro gave his dragon hesitant pets. Shiro was the one to break the silence.

"I'm sorry for how I reacted in there."

Keith sighed, and Red looked up at him with her big yellow eyes. "It's alright, Shiro. I expected worse, honestly."

"Still. I want you to know that I don't think of you any differently. I was just surprised."

He hazarded a glance up, only to meet Shiro's gentle gaze. He ducked his head again to hide the sudden burning in his eyes.

"And I wanted to say thank you, for coming all the way out here and finding me."

"Jeez, Shiro." Keith's voice came out more choked than it had any right to. "Enough already. I told myself I wouldn't cry when we found you."

Shiro laughed and Keith's heart swelled in his chest.

They stayed out there for awhile. Keith wound up sitting on the ground, back up against the wall of the hut, while Red laid her head contentedly in his lap and let him scratch her. At first he kept his eyes on the hut where Allura was questioning Lotor, wondering when she would come out, but as time dragged on his attention started to drift over to another hut. Specifically, the one Thace had been given.

With the whole rescue whirlwind, he hadn't had time to really think about that situation, but it was starting to sink in now. Thace had known his parents, both of them, and his mother had sent him a letter. He'd helped him, even when it meant going against his own tribe.

 _Your mothers tribe_ , his brain supplied unhelpfully, and he forcefully shoved the thought away. Barely a moment later another one occurred to him, this one making him sit up a little straighter with realization.

 _Maybe he knows how to say my name._

He snuck a glance at Shiro, contemplating sneaking off to talk to Thace. He wasn't sure Shiro would want to come with him, but at the same time Allura might think it was suspicious if he went by himself. The others said she was angry, after all.

Shiro felt his stare and turned to meet his eyes. "What are you thinking about?" He asked softly.

"Nothing." Keith blurted instinctively, only for Shiro to raise a disbelieving eyebrow. Keith huffed and crossed his arms. "I was just… Do you think Allura would be mad if I talked to Thace?"

"Why do you need talk to him?" The question wasn't malicious, just genuinely curious, and even his dragon seemed to be looking at him with questioning eyes.

Biting his lip, Keith averted his gaze back to Red. "When we were rescuing you, he said he knew my mom. And I just… I thought that maybe…"

Shiro wasn't catching on to his stammering, and tilted his head a little in an effort to understand what Keith meant. He took a deep breath.

"Ithoughtthathewouldknowhowtosaymyname."

Shiro's eyes widened for a moment, and then he smiled so, so gently. "Well, we won't know unless we ask, will we?"

He turned towards Thace's hut, and Keith scrambled to his feet so quickly Red squawked and spat an ember at his back in irritation.

"Shiro, wait, we can't just-"

But Shiro was already walking, and Keith had to run to catch up to him.

"Shiro-"

"Keith. You've wanted to know about this your whole life. There's no harm in asking about it."

All Keith could do was follow as Shiro lead them to Thace's hut.

They found him pacing circles around the room, wearing a footpath into the dirt floor, which is something Keith could definitely relate to. At first he didn't pay them any attention, but then he caught sight of Keith emerging from behind Shiro and immediately stopped.

"Keith." He said simply, though the corners of his eyes crinkled in a smile. "I trust you are well?"

"For the most part." Keith answered with a wince. "Are you? Allura hasn't been too hard on you, has she?"

Thace shook his head. "She's been as courteous as could be expected."

"Good- that's good." He fell silent for a second, and the awkwardness almost consumed him right then. He cleared his throat, and Shiro elbowed him, giving him a meaningful look.

"Was there something I could assist you with?" Thace asked, raising a pointed eyebrow.

"Uh, yes, actually. I guess I was wondering, since you can speak the Galra language, if you could tell me how to say something." Keith's heart was beating like a war drum as he took off the sword that hung heavy on his back. He presented the sheath to Thace with his name up, just like his mother had done.

The look on Thace's face as he traced the engraved letters was reverent, "Did your mother make this?"

"Yes, did you know her well?"

"It's beautiful, it is deserving of the grand name you carry. And yes I did, Krolia was one of my dearest friends, and she asked me to tell you your name if ever I found you."

"And?" Thace looked up from his inspection of the sword and spoke the name, but for a moment as Keith was hearing him, he wasn't even there. He was in his mother's hut, watching her mouth carefully as she would speak silently his name. Biting back tears when she told him he said it wrong, being comforted by her warm embrace.

Then just as suddenly he was hearing his name for the very first time, on an island in the middle of a war surrounded by dragons. And it felt right, _Keiitmaril,_ his birth name, his real self; condensed into one word. He questioned how he could have gone so long without knowing it. Behind him he could hear Shiro carefully saying his name, _finally_ his brother was saying his name, and as he spoke it into the hut he felt a piece of himself slot into place.

And then he was hugging Thace with all of his strength, then his brother, who let out sudden laugh of surprise. Shiro opened his mouth to say something to him, but Keith was already talking over him, unable to hold his tongue in his excitement.

"What does it mean?" He asked eagerly. "Names usually mean something, right? Does mine mean something?" Thace smiled at him with shining eyes, looking for all the world like a kindly uncle.

"It means 'firebrand', and from what I saw yesterday, it was a name well chosen."

It wasn't until he tasted salt on the corner of his lip that Keith realised he was crying. He aggressively wiped the tears away with his forearm, though the motion failed to wipe the grin off of his face along with them. Thace handed him back his sword and the next thing Keith knew he was sprinting out of the hut and back towards his dragon.

He exclaimed his real name over and over while Red watched and warbled happily to him, vaguely aware of Shiro following at a much more reasonable pace and chuckling lightly. But when he turned, Shiro didn't look like he was making fun of him. No, he looked like the proud older brother that he was.

"Keith," That was Katya's voice, and Keith spun to see her poking her head out of the hut with an annoyed expression. "What the Hel are you screaming about?"

"My name!" He blurted out. "I know how to say my name!"

Katya's face immediately brightened, and she dashed out of the hut to throw her arms around his waist and squeeze him as tightly as her skinny arms could manage.

"Tell me!" She said, pulling back just enough to look at him. "Tell me how to say it!"

So he did, and hearing his oldest friend say it back to him brought on a new wave of tears. He knew the others were still just inside, and Lance was probably listening in on the conversation and rolling his eyes, but at the moment Keith couldn't find it in himself to care.

For now, despite the prisoner tied up just a few hundred feet away, despite his throbbing shoulder wound, despite Shiro's missing arm, he was happy. And he wouldn't let Lance ruin it for him this time.

* * *

Allura fisted her hands in her skirts until her knuckles turned white. She'd been interrogating Lotor for hours, and so far he'd stuck to the same story. The witch Haggar had brought Zarkon back to life with some sort of dark magic, and Lotor was turning on his own tribe because he wanted a more peaceful future for the Galra. And he kept saying it with the most _insufferable_ smirk on his face, like he'd just baited a hook and was merely waiting for the fish to bite.

Allura was not a fish. She was not a fool, and she would not be so easily swayed by Galra lies. Her family had been tricked by them once and she refused to let history repeat itself.

By the time she and Coran abandoned their task for the day the sun had set, night descending upon the valley like a black velvet blanket, the sky above sprinkled liberally with stars. It was beautiful, as always, but Allura was too preoccupied to appreciate it this time.

"What are we going to do, Coran?" She asked, finally allowing herself to feel how tired she truly was. "We can't believe him, I'm sure. But where are we supposed to go from here?"

"I'm not sure, Princess." Coran responded softly. "I suppose we keep working with the dragon riders and try to get them ready for battle."

"They can't go to battle if we don't know where to strike." Allura snapped back, then softened with a sigh. "I'm too tired to keep thinking."

She spared a quick glance over to the Holt's hut, just to make sure everything was alright. As expected, Red and Shiro's green dragon still sat outside. Red looked a bit put out at being separated from her injured rider, but neither of them looked uneasy.

Coran laid a hand on her shoulder, calling her attention back to their conversation.

"Get some rest, Princess. We can continue in the morning."

But even as Coran guided her back to her hut, she knew that there would be no sleep for her that night. Later, when the moon hung high in the sky and she was irritated from hours of tossing and turning in her bed, she rose and snuck her way back to where Lotor was being kept.

The Galra prince didn't look terribly comfortable, curled up on his side in the dirt with his hands still bound behind him, but even in sleep he still looked ridiculously smug.

Allura really did hate him.

Making no disguise of her footsteps, she made her way across the room. By the time she reached him he was already stirring from sleep, and when she hauled him upright by his shoulder he stayed there, blinking owlishly in the light from the torches on the walls.

"Princess Allura." Here he paused as a yawn split his jaw. "A bit late for a visit, don't you think?"

"Say we _did_ believe you." She said, ignoring his statement. "Say we trusted in you and your nonsensical tale. What would you have us do? Where would you have us strike? How do you propose we defeat your father?"

Lotor regarded her silently for a long moment before a slow smile began to spread across his face. It wasn't like the smirk Allura had been seeing all day long; this was a proper smile, thin and sharp like a blade. She resisted the urge to shiver.

"I know exactly how."

* * *

The riders were awoken early the next morning, far too early in Keith's opinion. The sun had barely risen before Coran was practically knocking down their door, cheerfully calling for them to join him and Allura outside in ten minutes.

Fifteen minutes later they were all assembled outside, standing together in a small huddle in the dewy grass. Red trailed behind them, though Shiro's dragon (whom he still hadn't named) was content to hang back at the hut.

Allura and Coran were waiting for them outside of Lotor's hut. On one side of them stood Thace, who greeted them all with a simple nod and a small smile for Keith. And on the other, to all of their surprise, was Lotor, standing upright and unbound.

They all balked a bit when they saw that. Keith spared a glance at Shiro, who had his jaw clenched hard and his fingers on his left hand curled into a trembling fist. For a long moment there was uncomfortable silence before Lance spoke up.

"Oh look, it's Prince Lotor, just hanging out with the Princess. Totally normal."

Allura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I understand your apprehension, riders, but Coran and I have decided that it would be best if we took advantage of the opportunity that Prince Lotor's arrival has given us."

"And what's that?" Questioned Hunk, folding his arms across his chest and affixing Lotor with a suspicious stare. "The opportunity to get ourselves killed?"

"On the contrary." Lotor said, finally choosing to speak for himself. "Rather, it just so happens that I have the perfect strategy to eliminate my father."

Keith frowned to himself and traded a look with the others. He was painfully aware that this whole thing could be a trap, a ploy to trick them into helping Lotor seize power over his tribe, only for him to turn on them at the last minute. On the other hand, if any of them had reason to mistrust the Galra it was Allura, and if she was on board…

"Fine." Katya grumbled, apparently on the same thought process as Keith. "What's the strategy?"

Lotor smile was like a blade's edge. "There's a plan, known only to the most important Galra in the tribe. Even I had to use some more, ahem, _creative_ methods to find out about it. On the surface the plan is simple: Catch dragons, capture riders, conquer the Archipelago. But it goes further than that. Since his resurrection, my father has grown single minded, and in his single mindedness, he doesn't merely desire to control _some_ dragons. He wants to own all dragons- make them work for him, use them to win the Archipelago for him. All of this hinges on a secret he learned decades ago, one he's kept hidden ever since."

Here he pauses and turns to Allura. "Allura, did your father ever tell you about the Island Grave?"

The name itself is vague; they're expecting a frown or a baffled question from her. Instead her face twisted into an expression of stricken horror, making rocks of dread settle in all of their guts.

"You can't be serious."

"Deadly serious."

"Hi, yes, hello?" Lance interrupted, waving his arms to catch the attention of the two nobles. "Can you explain for those of us in the back who missed the memo on the Island Grave thing?"

Lotor pursed his lips, apparently irritated by Lance, and Keith smothered a chuckle into his palm. That was one thing he and Lotor could agree on, at least.

"When the riders of old were first formed," He began imperiously, "The riders took advantage of their dragons to explore the Archipelago to its limits. An endeavor that would have taken us centuries by ship took mere weeks on dragon back. Far to the south they found an island formed from a long dormant volcano, along with the scorched bones of a dragon nearly as large as the volcano itself."

Keith blinked, balancing on the edge of disbelief, but Katya had already leapt off the cliff into question mode.

"Nowhere in any of my research did I see any mention of a dragon that size. What was it called? Was it really that size or is that hyperbole? What does this have to do with Zarkon? Wouldn't we know if a dragon that size was still around?"

"If you'd allow me a word edgewise," Lotor snapped scathingly, "I'll answer your questions."

Keith scowled at him as Katya pouted, but no one spoke up, allowing the haughty prince to clear his throat and continue.

"They named it the Red Death, and after much research they discovered it in some ancient records. It's said it could command thousands of dragons with a single roar, force them to raid nearby villages and turn over their own hunts for its own sustenance. The other riders determined it to be an interesting side project but ultimately unimportant, as the dragon had long since gone extinct. But my father never stopped thinking about it. Now he seeks to find one of these behemoths and use it to grow his rider army."

"You _just said_ it was extinct!" Katya cried, as though personally offended by the conflicting information. The others were quick to contribute their own thoughts.

"How would he even train one?" Asked Keith with a distinct flicker of annoyance. The thing was the size of a volcano, training it probably wouldn't be a walk in the park.

"Yeah, and even if he could, where would he keep it?" That was Hunk's question, of course immediately concerned about the care and keeping of a giant lizard called the Red freakin' Death.

"Are you sure this was an actual plan and not something someone told you just to get you off their backs?" Lance was suspicious but no less snarky than usual, and Lotor visibly twitched with impatience.

Allura seized control of the conversation once more, turning sharply to face Lotor and catching his attention.

"You say he's searching for one. Does he have a lead, or is he merely groping about in the dark?"

"As much as I wish it was the latter, unfortunately he does have a lead. That same carcass had once produced a clutch of eggs, which was told in the archived records the riders found. The legend goes that a cult was formed around them, believing one of the eggs would produce the dragon that would kill all others in Ragnarok. This cult stole one thousand eggs and hid them away, and as far as I am aware, only one has survived. Over time the cult morphed into different groups, most recently taking the form of a Galra resistance group known as the Blade of Marmora. They've been quite the thorn in my father's side since he began his conquest. Their last known whereabouts are a complex cave system- one that we've lost many soldiers trying to infiltrate.

"Just before the lot of you stormed the Coliseum, I had been informed by one of my spies that my father had grown impatient of trying to draw them out of their hiding place, and only days ago ordered ships to sail in all different directions. Their orders were to not return until they were each in possession of a Cavern Crasher."

"Question!" Lance shouted, his hand launching itself into the air. "What's a Cavern Crasher?"

Lotor glowered at him, clearly at the end of his rope. "It's an aggressive species of dragon that invades the nests of others to feast on their eggs. My father is likely hoping they will track down the egg in the Blades caverns, though if he expects them to bring it back to him unharmed, he is a fool."

Lance opened his mouth to ask another question, but Allura waved a hand to keep him silent.

"When will they be on the move?" She asked.

"As soon as they have enough Cavern Crashers." Lotor paused, looking just a tad unsure for the first time. "I'm… not sure how many that will be. My father rarely operates by normal logic, he could get too few or too many. It's simply impossible to predict."

"So how will we know when to attack?" Shiro said, speaking up for the first time. Lotor gave him a cool look, one which Shiro returned. Keith was the only one to notice how his hand trembled at his side.

"We'll simply need to send out frequent scouting missions and keep a close eye on his troop movements, of course."

Hunk, surprisingly, snorted in a distinctly mocking fashion. " 'We', he says. As though he has any say in what we do."

Lotor frowned ponderously. "Well, I am the one who supplied the strategy-"

"You're also the enemy prince." Lance cut in. "Who I'm still not entirely sure is being sincere."

A nudge to his side drew Keith's attention away from the bickering and down towards Katya, who was frowning to herself that way she did when she was trying to figure something out.

"He said the island was in the south, right?" She murmured to him. Mystified, Keith nodded back, and barely a moment later she was gone from his side, dashing back to her hut.

"Riders, please!" Allura was snapping back at the head of their group in an attempt to quiet Lance and Hunk's arguments. "This is not the time to have petty arguments about the chain of command!"

Feet pounded on the dirt, and then Katya was back, a scroll of yellowed paper clutched in her hands.

"Did anyone else realize," She shouted over the cacophony of other voices, "That Lotor's island of death is just _a day away from Garrison?!"_


	11. Chapter 11

The many revelations and frantic hubbub seemed to kickstart Allura into Chief Mode. She paced from hut to hut, barking orders at any person who crossed her path. The riders were sent to the training arena to run drills, Lotor and Coran were sent to fetch maps and reports to begin planning their assault, and even Thace was given something to do. It was merely to sharpen weapons and change bandages on some of the injured dragons, but at least Allura trusted him enough to give him a job at all. The next few hours were a flurry of activity, distinct from the slow day before when all they'd done was sit about and wait for Lotor to say something useful.

The sun was just past its zenith when Allura took a break from strategizing, leaving Lotor to brood over maps with Thace's watchful eye on him and strolling across the dragon-filled plain with Coran at her side until they reached the hill that looked over the training arena. They were quiet for several moments, enjoying the slight breeze that ruffled their hair and observing the little specks of color that flitted here and there over the stone of the arena.

With a frown, Allura couldn't help but notice how the riders had scattered to the various corners of the pavillion. Keith was in one area, running sword drills with his left hand while Shiro watched. Across the courtyard, Lance and Hunk were doing target practice with a bow and crossbow, respectively. On the northern end Katya and her brother were practicing hand to hand.

This was their problem. Despite Lance and Keith mostly patching up their rocky relationship, the teens still struggled to work as a team. They trained apart, learned apart, lived apart- only coming together when it was time to fight.

That simply wouldn't do.

"I'm beginning to have doubts." She murmured, half to Coran and half to herself. Coran, gods bless him, immediately understood.

"I believe they need a leader, Princess."

Allura cast him a sidelong look. "I thought I was their leader."

"On the ground. In the skies you'd have to command from the back of my dragon, and Soothesong isn't suited for flight. The leader of the riders can't be grounded."

Allura sniffed imperiously, trying to cover up the fact that this very thing had been bothering her ever since the riders took to the sky for the first time as a group.

"Who, then?" She challenged, pushing herself to find an answer just as much as she pushed her advisor. "It cannot be Keith- he's far too reckless, and in the heat of battle is more likely to disregard the others and go off on his own. Lance relies too heavily on the opinions of his friends to make orders. Hunk is too fearful." A hand rose to her temple, a headache threatening to come on at any moment. "I would suggest Katya, but as long as she co-flies the Zippleback with her brother, she can't. A Zippleback cannot be flown if one rider has an advantage over the other."

Silence fell between them as they both pondered the conundrum presented to them. As they watched the riders continued their segmented training for several more minutes. A bit of motion caught Allura's eye, and she turned her gaze to see Shiro leaving his spot on the sidelines to approach the center of the pavillion.

She nudged Coran with an elbow, and both watched rapturously as the other riders gathered around Shiro. They couldn't hear what was being said from their position, but Allura still felt her jaw drop when he deftly moved them into a group combat exercise. It didn't even take that long, as opposed to when she did it and got a half hours worth of hemming and hawing.

"I believe the riders have already chosen for us."

Coran fumbled a bit for words. "But, Princess, Shiro doesn't know anything about dragons! And how will he fly with only one arm?"

Allura shrugged dismissively, already turning away from the edge of the hill. "Details to be worked out later. What matters is that they actually _listen_ to him." Taking up her skirts, she scurried down the side of the hill towards the pavillion, Coran at her heels. Surprisingly enough the riders didn't let her presence break their concentration, and she easily wove her way through them until she found the man in question.

"Shiro," she said when she got close, "Come with me, please." She didn't miss the slight look of alarm that came over his face. "It's alright, just wanted you for some specialized training."

Shiro frowned, left arm rising as though to cross over his chest before he remembered and let it drop again.

"Specialized training? What for?"

"I'll explain in a few moments. For now just follow, please."

* * *

"Me?"

Allura had never seen a person look as shocked as Shiro did in that moment. Jaw dropped, eyebrows raised, the whole deal. She bit back her amusement, however, knowing that the situation was a serious one.

"Why me?"

"Well, to be frank, because the riders listen to you leagues better than they ever listened to Coran or myself."

Shiro was already shaking his head in denial. "No way. Keith and Matt, maybe. But the rest of them? Pidge doesn't take orders from anybody, and I barely know Lance and Hunk."

"It's not a matter of knowing, it's a matter of authority. The other riders look up to you, they follow easily, like just now in the pavillion."

He still wasn't ready to admit it. "But… how could I even lead them? I can't fly a dragon with only one arm."

"Sure you can!" Coran supplied with a grin. "One of the first dragon riders flew with only one foot! It's simply a matter of compensating for your weaknesses, just like any of the other riders."

"I'm not sure about this." His expression was tense and pensive. "I don't think I'm the right choice."

"You never know until you try." Coran's voice was gentler now, less obnoxious in its optimism. "Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out and we try something else."

Shiro stared at the grass, his left fist slowly clenching and unclenching at his side. When he finally looked back up, he seemed reluctant, but at the same time there was a bit of determination in the line of his jaw.

"Alright. We can try."

"Excellent! We'll begin straight away." Before Shiro could protest Allura had grabbed his hand, hauling him off in the direction of the hut where the dragon they'd returned with was still lurking. It had been napping in the shade of the building, but when they approached its eyes cracked open. Recognizing Shiro, it lumbered to its feet and took a few tentative steps forward. Shiro took a step as well before pausing.

Allura frowned as she watched the interaction. The two were obviously drawn to each other, but there was something holding them back; a certain hesitance.

"Shiro," she said softly, coming up alongside him and gently taking his hand by the wrist. "You must show trust to be given it in return." She pulled his hand up until it was held in front of him, palm presented to the dragon, who eyed it warily.

"I know." He huffed in answer. "I did this in the arena."

"Then why do you hesitate?"

Shiro is silent for a moment, watching as the dragon inches towards his hand, one agonizing step at a time.

"What if I'm just as bad as the Galra? As Lotor? They made us fight each other, I _hurt_ him."

"And he hurt you." It was just a guess on Allura's part, but Shiro's flinch confirmed her suspicion.

"What if I can't be a good rider? What if I'm too broken?"

"He trusts you." Allura was right, the dragon had been creeping forward this whole time and now was barely a hands breadth from resting Shiro's hand on his snout. "He's showing you that. Can you trust him in return?"

"It's not him I don't trust." His fingers twitch, almost forming a fist before he remembers. "It's me."

"You don't have to trust yourself. Just trust that he knows what's best for himself." She knows that telling Shiro that isn't necessarily the best for him in the long run, but that's not what she's after. She's after results. The fallout can be dealt with after the war is over.

Apparently it works, because Shiro shifts and puts his hand on the dragon's snout, who makes a quiet rumbling sound in answer.

"You should give him a name."

Yet again, Shiro hesitates. "I don't even know what kind of dragon he is."

Allura opens her mouth to answer, but another voice beats her to it. One smooth and slimy with smug undertones that turns her stomach.

"It's an Armorwing." Lotor stepped out from the shadow of the hut, apparently having grown bored of pondering strategy. Both Shiro and the Armorwing recoiled sharply at his presence, the dragon planting one wing between the Prince and Shiro in a gesture of protection. He merely smiled blandly at them.

"Usually quite timid, but we found this one after it destroyed an entire flock of our Smothering Smokebreath scouts. Easier than the other dragons to manipulate as well- if he won he got armor, and if he didn't, well…"

Allura felt sick, felt her face turning red with rage. In all of the fuss about taking down Zarkon she'd forgotten one very important thing: Lotor had been the master of the Coliseum, and just as complicit in the torture of dragons as Zarkon. He was still his father's son.

"Thank you for your contribution, Lotor." She responded icily, and watched in satisfaction as his smirk fell. "If you don't mind, this is a private conversation."

Lotor allowed himself a small glare before forcing his expression to smooth over. "Of course, Princess. Excuse me." He bowed stiffly, then turned on his heel and marched off.

An awkward silence fell between the two of them, Shiro anxiously running his hand over the dragons horns as he fought to get his composure back.

"I should've let Keith kill him."

Allura glanced up in surprise. Shiro was facing away from her, jaw tight and the veins in his neck pulsing angrily. She sucked in a cleansing breath.

"Be that as it may, your dragon still needs a name."

Shiro considered, the dragon staring up at him with big golden eyes.

"I think I'll call him Bayard."

The dragon rumbled again and pressed against Shiro's hand, making Allura smile sadly.

"I think he likes it."

* * *

"Flying with one arm isn't that complicated." Katya said, briefly glancing up from her charcoal sketch to look at Shiro. "You'll just need a bit of it you can hold on to when your dragon does complicated moves."

"Like a handle." Hunk put in, bent over his own pile of papers. Katya nodded and chewed on the end of her pencil.

"Wonder if we could just add a loop of leather and call it good."

"No, it wouldn't be sturdy enough. We have to make sure it stays on through anything or Shiro will go splat."

"I'd rather not go splat." Shiro said with a wry look on his face, making Katya snicker.

"We could make it so his feet strap in instead, since he still needs to lead."

Katya scrunched up her nose and shook her head at Hunks suggestion. "No, what if we have to dismount quickly? It'd take too long and leave him vulnerable."

"Well we could make him a harness? And then we connect it to the saddle in more than one place."

"I think a harness would still be too complicated, but maybe a belt? And then that's connected to the saddle." While she spoke Katya drew a rudimentary drawing of a belt connected to the four corners of a very simple saddle. "We can connect it with hooks so that he can easily get on and off."

"But would hooks be sturdy enough to handle flight?"

"If we get even a handful of Gronkle Iron ingots we can make strong enough hooks to withstand anything-"

"But the Gronkles here can't make iron anymore because of the Galra, we'd have to find wild ones which is gonna be a problem with Zarkon hunting them all down."

"I'm sure we can figure it out- I don't think we have much of a choice if we want Shiro flying safely."

They seem to have completely forgotten Shiro was there in their mission to build him a saddle, so with no better ideas, he quietly slipped out of the room and left them to their planning. Outside of the hut Keith was waiting for him, accompanied by Red, who'd barely left his side since the battle at the Coliseum.

"Let me guess," He drawled when Shiro appeared in the doorway, "They started planning and completely forgot you were there."

"Yeah." Shiro agreed with a sheepish grin. "I figured it would be better to just let them do their thing."

Keith nodded in agreement, straightening up from the wall he'd been leaning on. "Hunk and Pidge made all of our saddles. If anyone can pull it off it would be them."

"Well, while we're waiting for them to pull themselves out of their crafting frenzy, why don't you show me how you fly, Mr. Hotshot Dragon Rider." He reaches out to ruffle Keith's hair as he speaks, making him duck away and stick his tongue out petulantly at him.

"Fine, but only because no one else will let me fly yet."

Shiro frowned at that, eyes going to the bandages that still stuck out of Keith's shirt, even a week after the battle.

"On second thought, if Mat and Pidge think you shouldn't be flying-"

"No, nope, too late, you already asked. Besides, if you can fly with one arm why can't I?" With that and a cheeky grin, Keith turned and clambered up onto Red, who seemed just as enthused to go for a flight as her rider.

"Try to keep up!" He called, and with a smirk and a beat of Red's wings, they were airborne. Shiro tilted his head back to watch Keith show off, shading his eyes from the sun with his hand. He couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face. In a few days, once Katya and Hunk finished his saddle, he would be up there with him.

He couldn't wait.

* * *

Hunk and Katya proudly displayed the finished saddle to him a week later, of course immediately insisting he take it out for a test flight. He'd spent that week actively trying to get closer to his dragon, so there was barely any hesitation between them when he fastened the leather to Bayard's scaly green hide.

The design was as Katya had suggested; a belt with several metal hooks that locked in to corresponding rings on the saddle. They had a rudimentary clasp system, so that with a press of his thumb on the small lever he could release the hook from the ring, making dismounting and remounting as quick and easy as could be expected.

The moment he was locked in, the other riders mounted their own dragons and gathered around, all eager to witness Shiro's first flight. Allura and Coran were there are well, Coran on Skycracker to help supervise and Allura staying on the ground. Shiro's eyes found her, and they exchanged hopeful smiles.

"Any pointers?" He asked her. Lance took it upon himself to answer.

"It's like riding a horse!" He called over from the back of Glorywing, ignoring how they swayed slightly as the dragon occupied itself with preening. "They let you guide them because they trust you, but you have to remember they could just as easily turn and do something else. You don't command them so much as work with them."

Shiro quirked his mouth to the side. The advice might have been good, but Shiro had little to no experience riding horses anyway, so it didn't help him that much.

"Keith? You got anything helpful to say?"

Keith immediately shook his head, a smirk starting to grow. "Nah. The first time I rode Red she flew straight up as high as she could, dropped, then did a barrel roll. Not the ideal first flight."

Red huffed smoke in his face while Allura grumbled to herself- something about him not having a saddle.

"Don't overthink it." Hunk counseled. "Once you get in the air, all you have to do is work with the dragon. It's almost instinctive."

"Alright." Shiro took a deep breath, held it, and let it out slowly. Then he dared to peek at his dragons face, who was looking back at him expectantly. "You ready, bud?"

Bayard rumbled his agreement and swept out his wings, giving each of them a test flap. Then he waited until Shiro tightened his hold before finally leaping into the air.

Shiro's stomach immediately dropped out of his feet, but it wasn't at all unpleasant. They ascended thirty, forty feet in the air- the others had taken off around him, already climbing faster towards the sun. Gently testing, Shiro leaned to the left and was delighted when Bayard banked his wings in that direction, pulling them in a tight circle.

He leaned down close over Bayard's neck and he reacted the exact way Shiro wanted him to- picking up speed in the direction of the horizon, chasing after the other riders. A grin cracked his lips and he had no desire to suppress it.

"How fast can you go?" He didn't actually expect Bayard to hear over the rushing wind, never mind understand the words, but suddenly the dragon was beating his wings harder, pushing them faster, and they quickly gained on the other riders.

He passed Hunk first, who gave him a big grin and a thumbs up. Then Katya and Matt, hooting and howling in excitement for him. Lance yelled something like 'I told you so' as he was overtaken, but the wind and the adrenaline rushing in his ears made Shiro unsure if he'd heard correctly.

With Coran watching from the sidelines, the only one remaining was Keith, who as Shiro watched pulled up on his dragon to perform a fancy loop-de-loop, giving him and Bayard time to catch up to him.

"Hey, Hotshot!"

Keith's head whipped around in surprise, and he pulled Red to a stop, waiting for Shiro to catch up before he spoke, still having to shout over the beating of the dragon's wings as they hovered.

"You up for a race, old man?"

"Bring it on!"

Keith smirked wolfishly, and before Shiro could blink he and Red had taken off. He and Bayard immediately gave chase.

It was exhilarating. Keith was barely a dragon's length ahead of him, streaking across the sky like a crimson comet with Shiro hot on his heels. The air was a dull roar in his ears, Bayard's wings beat on either side of him like a war drum, a green blur below the only reminder of the ground they'd left behind.

In the corner of his eye something flashed in the sunlight. He blinked a few times in irritation, but was completely ready to ignore the momentary distraction when Bayard suddenly jerked them off course, angling down and away from where they'd been chasing Keith.

"Bayard? What's going on?"

This time the dragon ignored him, opting instead to continue on his new path. They'd apparently gotten turned around, back towards the little settlement, where the makeshift forge Katya and Hunk had erected stood with a gleaming pile of scrap metal in front of it. Shiro blinked rapidly as they continued their descent, eyes watering from windburn and the reflections off of the metal.

Bayard thunked to an ungraceful landing right in front of the scrap pile, impact making Shiro feel like his very bones had been jostled. The dragon didn't bother to wait for Shiro to dismount- he simply crawled forward and shoved his snout into the pile of metal. Thankfully Shiro was able to get off before Bayard tossed the first bit of armor onto his back, using his sparking fire to weld the piece down.

The others found him there a minute later, staring in bafflement as his dragon repeated the process, slowly building himself a metal shell over his dull green scales.

The moment she landed, Katya was striking herself on the forehead with a sound of frustration.

"Of course, he's an Armorwing! How could we have possibly forgotten?"

Shiro heard Keith chuckle somewhere behind him, followed immediately by a yelp before Red lumbered into his line of sight, now riderless. By the others snickering he guessed Red had bucked him off in order to join Bayard, apparently wanting to help him. She carefully chose a piece of metal from the pile and tossed it to Bayard, who welded it into place with practiced ease.

After a few long minutes of metal tossing and welding, Bayard surveyed his new suit of armor and huffed to himself, seemingly pleased. He turned back to Shiro, tail lashing like a pleased dog, and ambled up to him to receive scratches. He seemed to move more easily now despite the extra weight, a certain confidence radiating from him that hadn't been there before.

Back in the air, the difference was even more clear. He flew slightly slower now, but there was much more power behind each purposeful beat of his wings. The sun glinted off of the metal, the armored dragon and it's dignified rider striking a commanding presence. One by one, as though they didn't know they were doing it, the other riders fell into one of their practiced formations. Only this time, rather than following Skycracker, they were following Shiro and Bayard.

 _Huh_ , Shiro thought, bemused. _This might actually work, after all._


	12. Chapter 12

"Ugh, why does _he_ have to come?"

Shiro sighed, exchanging an exasperated look with Allura. "Lance, we've been over this. Lotor has to go on the scouting missions because he knows where to go and what to look for."

"But why does he have to ride with me? Why can't Keith take him for once?"

"You know why!" Keith shouted from a few dozen feet away where he was getting Red ready for their flight. "Every time Lotor gets within ten feet of Red she tries to barbeque him!"

Red huffed a bit of fire, as though trying to prove Keith's point, making him laugh and scratch around her horns.

"It's not _my_ fault you can't control your dragon!"

"Lance." Shiro was pinching the bridge of his nose now, trying to stay calm. When he accepted the job of leader, he hadn't stopped to consider that the people he'd be leading were all freaking teenagers, and therefore unbearable. "You know all of the reasons why things have to be the way they are. Arguing with them isn't going to change anything. So will you please just get on the damn dragon?"

Lance scowled, pouted, whined, but eventually gave in and climbed onto Glorywing, shooting Lotor a suspicious glare as the Prince climbed on behind him. A few minutes later they were in the air and heading south, as per Lotor's instructions.

This is what their lives had been like for the last two weeks: going out in teams of two to scour the Archipelago to search for any sign of Zarkons nefarious Cavern Crasher operation. It was tedious work, flying hour after hour over blank blue ocean, coasting over the occasional island only to find nothing and return to the sky.

Today was promising to be much the same. The sky was clear, barely a cloud in sight, the ocean below practically glassy from the lack of wind to create waves. Keith flew ahead of Lance and Lotor, free to go faster and beat back boredom with some of his fancy tricks without the burden of an extra passenger. Thankfully Lotor tended to keep to himself during their missions, not speaking much unless it was to point out a place to search or correct their course.

For the first three hours everything is fine- just as boring and uneventful as ever. Then Lotor decided to open up his mouth.

"That island there." He said with a sharp prod to Lance's shoulder. Lance frowned down at the ocean. The island Lotor had indicated was barely more than a gray mass of rock protruding from the sea, seemingly unimportant, but Lotor was supposed to be the knowledgeable one here. So he signalled Keith, and the three of them began their descent.

As they drew closer, more details were becoming clear, including the other dark shape next to the island. Keith pulled back on his dragon until he and Lance were alongside each other.

"That's a Galra ship." He called over. "We should land on the far side of the island and check it out."

"I don't know." Lance answered, peering at the ship below. It was rather large, probably carrying a large number of soldiers. "Maybe we should scout from the sky instead. Less risky."

Keith snorted, tossing his head petulantly. "Sure, you do that. I'm gonna go see what I can find out."

"Keith, don't-" But he was already gone, banking Red to the right so they could circle around to the far side of the island. Lance swore under his breath, but knowing Keith would probably get himself killed if he went alone, spurred Glorywing to follow.

"And in our next installment," He muttered to himself as Glorywing followed Red, "Keith will rush ahead once again, this time in Galra territory! Fun for the whole family!"

He heard Lotor snicker behind him and immediately clenched his jaw shut. The last thing he needed to do was let Lotor think the team was fracturing, especially if he was actually going to turn on them. Which, for the record, Lance completely expected him to do.

Glorywing landed just behind Red on the gray surface of the island, kicking up a small cloud of dust and loose pebbles. Keith had already dismounted, sword at the ready in his left hand. The bandages had come off of his shoulder a few days before, but it was still giving him trouble.

"You stay here." He murmured to Red as Lance and Lotor hopped off of Glorywing. "I'll be right back."

Red grumbled unhappily with a shake of her head, but stayed put regardless. Glorywing immediately plopped herself down and began to preen, and Lance smiled at his well behaved dragon.

"Alright, come on. Stay low and stay quiet."

Lance scoffed to himself, ready to mumble something along the lines of 'Says Keith', but the other rider was already on the move.

The island truly was small, barely a mile all the way around. The Galra ship anchored off shore was probably longer than that entire side of the landmass, so it didn't take them long before they were within sight of the operation. They dropped to hide behind rock outcroppings, Lance with an arrow knocked and Keith and Lotor shifting their grips on their sword hilts.

From where they were they could clearly see a number of Galra soldiers flitting over the landscape. Scattered across the beach were what appeared to be large cages, made out of some kind of metal that looked like oxidized copper. Lotor sucked in a harsh breath at the sight, and Lance turned to him with a suspicious frown.

"That metal is dragonproof." The Prince hissed to him in explanation. "Not even a Nightfury could escape from one of those on it's own. They must be here to capture Cavern Crashers."

"Oh, ya think?" Lance whispered scathingly. Lotor didn't have a chance to answer.

"I'm going to get a closer look." Keith said to them in a whisper yell, already moving out from behind his outcropping to rush to the next one. Lance didn't even bother trying to stop him, just ground his teeth and followed.

Observing the work with their backs to the riders were two Galra soldiers, one higher rank than the other if their armor was anything to go by. Keith had positioned himself dangerously close to them, listening in on their conversation, and Lance caught up barely in time to catch the tail end of a sentence.

"- last one, sir. They only need to be loaded up now."

"Good." Responded the higher rank soldier. "Sendak will be pleased. Come, we should lead the boarding from the ship."

The two began to walk away, making it six paces before Keith was dashing to Lance and Lotor's hiding place, a sharp expression on his face.

"They found all the Crashers they need." He reported tersely, hand flexing around the grip of his sword. "We should burn the ship- it might slow them down long enough for us to get the others and come up with a plan."

"We can't just burn it, Keith." Lance scolded. "What if there are already dragons on the ship?"

"They just said they hadn't been loaded yet. If we move fast we can sink it before they get any of the Crashers on board."

"I meant dragons from _other islands_ , genius!"

Keith faltered for a moment, apparently not having considered that the Galra could have gone to other islands before this one.

"Well we can't just do nothing!"

"That's exactly what we have to do." Was Lance's retort. "If we go out there, not only will we be outnumbered and probably captured, but we'd tip the Galra off to the fact that we know their plan. We'd lose the element of surprise, which is pretty much our only advantage here."

Keith's eyebrows drew downwards, a scowl etching itself onto his face. Logically he knew Lance was right, but after seeing the cages he was itching to wreck some Galra shit.

"Fine." He eventually growled, already moving back in the direction they came from. "But we have to move fast. If Zarkon gets that Red Death, it's all over."

Lance followed, praying to every god he could think of that they'd make it in time.

* * *

Red and Glorywing flew as fast as they could, but even then it felt like it was taking forever to get back to the island. All three of them were hyper aware that every passing minute put the Galra that much closer to gathering their Crasher army and launching their attack. Tense silence and the beating of wings were their only companions as they beelined for home.

They made it back a couple of hours after noon, their dragons panting with exhaustion and collapsing the moment they landed. The others had seen their approach and came out to meet them, which at least spared them the task of trying to hunt them all down. The moment they touched down Keith was off of Red and rushing for Shiro, the report of their findings coming out in a barely understandable waterfall of words.

"Keith, Keith, slow down, I can't understand you." Shiro soothed with his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Take a breath."

"I can explain." Said Lotor, taking a step forward. "It appears the Galra were more advanced in their plan than I originally anticipated."

The others pressed close in a tight circle of worried faces as Lotor delved into the tale. Allura's face turned red with anger when he mentioned the cages, and Hunk went pale when he realized what this meant for them.

"So this means we have to fight him already?" He stammered, wringing his hands. "Like, now? Cause I don't think we're ready for that."

"Yes we are." Shiro said firmly, clenching his jaw in determination. "This is what we've been training for. We just need to figure out a plan, and we'll be fine."

By now the other dragons had caught on that something was going down and had begun to gather around the circle of riders. Thought and Chatter were particularly interested, nudging their small heads in the circle to nuzzle at Katya and Matt. Katya, frowning as her mind raced to figure something out, shoved her dragon away.

"Begone, Thought." She muttered absently, not completely paying attention. The Zippleback slunk away, its necks drooping despondently.

Five minutes later they were grouped in Allura's hut, a map of the Archipelago spread out on the table they had gathered around. Tension crackled in the air between them.

"Zarkon is sure to have many troops," Lotor began, leaning his fists on the map and glaring as though it had personally wronged him, "Mounted on as many dragons. The riders will be backed by an armada armed with catapults and ballistas. It is unlikely those will be using dragon root arrows since Zarkon is still unaware of our presence. Still, it would be best to be cautious."

He peeled the map aside, revealing another- hand drawn- underneath. It was a rough sketch of an island, the shape vaguely familiar.

"My father is not known for subterfuge. He will attack directly, from here-" He stabs a finger at the parchment, pointing out a beach on the northern edge of the island. "The Cavern Crashers will most likely lead the charge. In order to keep them from getting to the egg, they should be our top priority."

"But how do we stop them?" Keith interjected, one of his hands clenched into a fist with the thumb running over his knuckles. "I assume Allura doesn't want us to kill them."

Allura visibly flinched at the suggestion. "No. We should avoid harming the other dragons as much as possible. They are being forced into this."

"So what do we do?"

"We could use a Hobblegrunt." Suggested Coran as he stroked his orange mustache. "They could calm the Cavern Crashers and keep them from going into the caves."

"There is only one Hobblegrunt on the island, and Soothesong cannot fly." Allura answered with a frown. "It would be nigh impossible to get her to the island in time."

"Unless we had one of the other dragons carry her." Shiro turned his attention to Katya and Hunk after his statement. "Could you two rig something up in the next few hours to make that possible?"

Katya scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Shiro, you wound me."

"Of course we can." The fear in Hunk's expression had been pushed back, superseded by a dangerous glint.

"Alright, get on it then. But if we're going to drop Allura and Soothesong on the Cavern Crashers, we're going to have to make sure they won't immediately be skewered by the Galra troops and riders."

"I have an idea." Lance murmured. Shiro looked surprised, but nodded to him to continue, and Lance put back his shoulders. "I've seen this island before. It's only a few islands over from the Garrison, in the fog bank. It lowers visibility and makes it hard to see not only what you're hitting, but also what's hitting you." He leaned forward over the map, studying it with narrowed eyes. "If we get a couple of the faster dragons to lure the enemy riders away, then the others can attack the ships and take out the weapons. Then it'll be safe for Allura and Soothesong."

"That's a good plan, Lance, but what about Zarkon?" Shiro looked to Lotor for answer to this question, who twisted his mouth unhappily.

"Sendak will be out front to lead the attack, as the puppet leader of the Galra. If he falls or their plan goes awry, the witch Haggar will likely make an appearance in an attempt to win with her witchcraft. Zarkon is a coward who lurks in the shadows, and will only appear if we force him, if there is no other way for him to reach his objective. We will have to goad him into an attack."

"So do everything else first," Keith said with darkened eyes, "Then hunt the bastard down."

Shiro traced the edge of the charcoal map with one finger. "Here's the plan. Keith, Lance, you two have the fastest dragons- your job will be to distract the Galra riders and keep them away from the battlefield. Got it?"

He got two solemn nods in return.

"Coran, you and Skycracker will carry Allura and Soothesong. Wait until you see the ships go down before you move in."

"Skycracker can handle it." Coran said, proudly, while Allura pressed her lips into a thin line.

"The rest of us will attack the ships. Lotor, you'll ride with Hunk. He can drop you onto each ship, and while we distract them you can release any other dragons still aboard."

Lotor looked a bit miffed at being ordered about like an ordinary foot soldier, but said nothing.

"Once the dragons are free, Matt and Pidge can roast the ship and we can move onto the next one."

There's silence for a long moment, everyone staring down at the map with bated breath. The realization was beginning to sink in- this was it. They were finally going to face down Zarkon, the legendary Dragon Rider who'd risen from the dead. Daunting, to say the least.

Until Shiro huffs and steps back from the table, chin held high.

"Let's get moving."

* * *

Sendak the Silent was known throughout the Archipelago as a deadly, dauntless warrior. No one could have guessed how, in that moment he stood on the slightly bobbing deck of a ship, surrounded on all sides by a gray blanket of fog, how unnerved he was. The hollow scrapes and echoing, shrieking cries of distressed dragons underneath the deck was certainly not helping.

He shoved the thought away viciously, the same way he did everything. It was merely fog. Though it lowered visibility and would make it difficult for their catapults and ballistas to aim, it was merely a minor obstacle in their path, not nearly significant enough to require a change in plan.

The other soldiers roam the deck of the ship impatiently, awaiting their orders to launch the attack, but Sendak wasn't about to give it. He had been instructed to wait for the signal from the witch, he could not attack until-

A slight whistle catches his ear and he snaps his head to the right. He sees nothing, not even a disturbance in the fog, but he could've sworn he heard something. Just for a split second, like wings gliding through gossamer.

The whistle comes again, this time from his left, and again he is too slow to spot what caused it. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight. Something isn't right- something is lurking in the mist, breathing down on them. Something they hadn't planned for.

Suddenly heat is exploding over his head, such heat that he's immediately soaked in sweat, and he throws himself to the deck. A line of fire blazes its way out of the fog, carving a blackened slash into the deck of the ship, the charred wood crumbling underneath it and allowing the destruction to reach further into the hold. When he lifts his head, his jaw clenches.

There's a hole clear through the center of the ship, making the structure buckle on both ends as it takes in water. The ballistas are sliding out of position. Three of his men are on fire and more have already abandoned ship.

They were under attack.


	13. Chapter 13

Shiro's eyes are stinging. He has no idea if it's from the smoke, the windburn, or the salt spray of the water beneath him, but he supposes it doesn't matter all that much as long as he can still see well enough to sink ships.

So far the plan is going perfectly. Keith and Lance had led the flock of Galra riders off to the far side of the island, whooping and shouting insults as they went. The rest of their team had been steadily working their way through the fleet, freeing the Cavern Crashers below decks before sinking the ships entirely. So far they'd destroyed four. Six left to go.

Banking his dragon to the right, Shiro circled back to the flagship, the one he'd given a glancing blow on their way into the battle. It was about half sunken, but it was taking far too long. He'd have to finish it off.

"Cowards!" The voice is faint under the sounds of battle, but it's definitely there, and coming from the upper deck of the flagship. "Come out of the fog and fight like real warriors!"

Shiro rolled his eyes. It was bait, but he'd have to get low to finish sinking the ship anyway, so what the hel. He and Bayard descended further until they hovered directly above the ship, Bayard already gearing up to melt the thing. The person standing on the deck, evidently the one shouting, turned on his heel to face the sound of wings.

Shiro didn't recognize him, but apparently that wasn't universal, as the man's eyes widened and his mouth drew into an oily smirk.

"Well, if it isn't the Coliseum's Champion." He called up to Shiro, and his heart stops. "Looks like that brat Lotor took my advice. All you needed to be a proper rider was some time in the ring." His sneer grew, showing off pointed canines. "How long did it take you to beat that beast into submission?"

Shiro and Bayard both growled down at the man. He still didn't have the slightest idea who he was or why he was on the flagship or how he knew Shiro, but that wasn't about to stop him from kicking his entire ass.

Bayard descends like a bolt of armored lightning, and before the man has time to say anything else or even exclaim in surprise Bayard has him in his claws, his feet dangling above the waves as they tear back up towards the sky.

"How high?" Shiro murmurs to his dragon, who answers with a keen. Something dark and ugly is twisting in Shiro's chest, urging him to fly upwards until the ships are merely specks in the fog, and let the man plummet into the water with enough force to shatter every bone in his body.

The man is shrieking like a child, desperately grasping at Bayards claws. Inexplicable pity smothers the darkness.

They are only twenty feet in the air when Shiro deposits the man onto the beach and flies away without so much as a glance behind him.

"Shiro!"

It's Katya and Matt, coming up alongside him on their Zippleback. Both of them are panting, soot smeared across their cheeks and hair dramatically windblown.

"We took out another one," Katya reported breathlessly, "But the rest are turning towards shore!"

Shiro follows her finger to where she's pointing and swears. Sure enough the remaining half of the fleet was pressing as close as they could to the beach, preparing to land.

"Take out as many as you can before they disembark!" Shiro barked, and the siblings immediately obeyed. Hunk joined them from the other direction, Lotor poised on the back of the Gronckle. They probably wouldn't be able to destroy all five ships in time, but anything was better than nothing.

They tear through two more ships before the first of the remaining ones runs aground, and the strike team reassembles above them, carefully out of ballista range.

"We need to call in Allura before the Crashers get to the caves." Shiro says urgently, glancing at where the cave mouth opens just behind the beach. "Pidge, give the signal."

"But what about the soldiers?" Counters Matt. "We didn't get all of them down."

"We'll just have to go down and protect her on the ground. Give the signal!"

Together, Matt and Pidge sent a plume of fire directly up into the sky. In a matter of moments Coran and Skycracker would be swooping in to deliver their passengers, and the others rushed to meet them on the beach head.

The beach was crawling with dragons, about fifteen of them if Shiro's quick headcount was correct. They were fat, waddling creatures, striped black and yellow with thick noses and tiny eyes. They were being hauled forward by Galra, leading the dragons on chains made of that same green metal, heading towards the cave entrance.

The three dragons went in low, blowing hot fire across the sand. The Crashers with their fireproof hides were fine- the Galra, not so much. Half a moment later the bright blue shape of Skycracker drops beneath the fog, the brown leather sling he bore in his claws carrying snow white Soothesong.

Coran drops the sling onto the sand, right in the center of the mass of Cavern Crashers, and before they could even get out of the sling Soothesong is humming, catching the attention of the rampaging dragons. They emerge a moment later, Allura perched precariously on Soothesong's shoulders as the dragon warbles, frills behind her head waving and wiggling as she sings.

"Look out, riders!" Coran cries, just as Snack flattens a Galra soldier with his tail. The remaining troops are beginning to flood out of the ships that had made it to shore, beelining for Allura and her Hobblegrunt.

"Circle up!" Shouts Shiro to his fellow riders, pulling Bayard around to face the threat. "Protect Allura!"

The other dragons, including Skycracker, take up a defensive ring around Allura. The Crashers are still a bit of a mess, stumbling towards the cave and then away as though they can't decide which way to go, but are steadily beginning to relax onto the sand. It's just taking a tad too long.

The soldiers are coming at them from three directions. The riders are trapped between the Crashers and the soldiers, unable to move either way. Most of the dragons have passed their shot limit and are reduced to using teeth, claws, and tails, which while effective wasn't nearly good enough to defend against the fighting force of three entire ships.

A cold sweat broke out on Shiro's back, even as heat from exertion burned his muscles. They, five people and four dragons, couldn't do this alone. They needed help.

* * *

"Spine shot!"

Lance watched with a sort of cruel satisfaction as Glorywing's spine hit the pursuing rider directly in the chest. The body went limp and tumbled off of the dragon, releasing their hold on the dragon proof chains in the process. The now-freed dragon, another Deadly Nadder, gave a happy cry and darted away from the battle as quickly as it could go.

Lance patted Glorywing's side as he cast his gaze about, looking for his partner. A second later a red blur blasts past him, an enemy Razorwhip hot on his heels. Lance is about to go help, but before he or his dragon could move even an inch Keith has pulled Red up and into a tight, nauseating backflip. The move places him perfectly above the enemy rider, who Red plucks off of his dragon with her claws and promptly drops into the sea.

"Show off!" Lance shouts at him, which Keith responds to with a rude gesture. The Monstrous Nightmare coasts up to them, rider and dragon alike looking exhausted but extremely smug.

"I think that was the last of them." Keith pants, one hand attempting to smooth down the hair that had escaped from its braid. "What now?"

"We should circle back to Shiro, see if he needs help."

Keith nods, and the two turn their dragons in tandem, back towards the site of the main battle.

* * *

Bayard lets out an angry roar, shaking three Galra soldiers from his neck. Shiro is kicking out with both of his legs to prevent them from dragging him off of his dragons back. The sand underneath them is shifting and unsteady, already baring gouges and scars deep into the dirt from massive reptile claws.

On the bright side, Allura and Soothesong had finally managed to calm all of the Cavern Crashers. On the dark side, they were about to be overrun by Galra soldiers.

 _Win some, lose some_ , Shiro thinks to himself a bit hysterically as Bayard swipes an enemy to the side with a paw, sending him crashing into two of his comrades. The Galra were everywhere, swarming over them like ants.

Over the din of battle Shiro's ears detected something, the pitch of someone's voice as they yelled something. Half a second later a cloud of blue spines was descending into the sand directly in front of Shiro, striking three Galra dead where they stood and forcing others to scatter. Shiro looked up to see the two remaining members of their team screaming down from the sky above.

Lance pulled up at the last moment, Glorywing snatching a soldier in her talons and carrying him away kicking and screaming. Red, on the other hand, slammed into the ground and kicked up a cloud of sand, roaring deafeningly. Keith leapt from the saddle, sword drawn and teeth bared.

" _Dracarys!_ " Keith yelled to Red, who promptly burst into flames and plunged into the battle with a bellow.

With the Galra now flanked from behind, the tide began to turn in the riders favor. Blackened corpses littered the beach and the waves beat red against the shore, but they were winning. Painfully, brutally, they were winning.

* * *

Haggar watched the failure unfolding on the beach with narrowed, golden eyes. Her painstakingly collected herd of Cavern Crashers had been reduced to useless lumps in the sand, soothed into complacency by the Hobblegrunt the mysterious riders had brought with them. Or not so mysterious, as that silvery hair flashing in the sunlight could only belong to one person.

Haggar didn't know how a member of the Altean royal family had escaped the razing of their island. She thought she'd been thorough in her extermination, but apparently not.

No matter. She could still accomplish her plan, all she had to do was take the one remaining Cavern Crasher and skirt the edge of the skirmish, using the slaughter of her troops as cover, and make it to the cave. Once within the tunnels she could search for the egg unimpeded.

A few minutes later she was stepping out onto the sand, pulling the cowering Cavern Crasher behind her. The number of Galra troops was rapidly dwindling, but they should last long enough for her to reach the cave entrance.

Just as she reaches the stones, she catches a glimpse of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. Then she slips into the shadows.

* * *

Victory or death is the Galra way, their battle cry, the center of their philosophy. So, of course, none of the troops retreated to the ships when it became clear they weren't going to win. They dug their feet into the dirt and stood their ground, still throwing themselves at the riders and their dragons until they were forced to kill every last one of them.

Shiro's heart weighed heavily in his chest. They were all sore and panting, ready to slump to the ground and sleep if given the chance. Katya and Matt were absolutely covered in soot from the explosions caused by their Zippleback, Hunk was bruised from rough flying delivering Lotor onto the decks of ships, Lance's fingers were shredded from his bowstring, and Keith was spattered head to toe in blood, his sword dripping the liquid into the sand. The stump of Shiro's right arm throbbed in time with his heartbeat. The only one completely unscathed was Allura, still perched atop Soothesong and stroking her snout with quiet praises falling from her lips.

"Shiro!"

He turned tiredly to face Lotor, who came dashing up with his hair flying wildly behind him. The look on his face had Shiro swallowing leaden dread.

"Haggar has entered the caves." He gasped out, pointing with his sword toward the cave entrance. "She seeks the egg. We must stop her!"

Matt let out a groan, dramatically sprawling to the ground on his back. "Will it never end?"

"On your feet, guys." Shiro can't quite keep the exhaustion out of his voice, but no one mentions it as they reluctantly pull themselves into formation. "We don't have a choice. Allura, Coran, we could use your help on this."

Allura gives a graceful nod and dismounts from Soothesong, a quarterstaff slung across her back. She'd forgone her usual gown for light leather armor, strong enough to protect her without slowing her down too much. The Princess laid a calming hand on the snout of her dragon.

"Stay here." She murmured to the reptile, who cooed in response. " _Naraliem._ " She turned back to Shiro, pulling her hair back into a bun.

"Soothesong will remain here and keep the Crashers calm." As she spoke Coran came up to stand alongside her, half of his mustache burned away.

"We must be cautious, riders." He said grimly. "Haggar is not to be trifled with."

Shiro nodded briefly in acknowledgment. "Let's move."

They entered the cave two by two, each rider accompanied by their dragon. The stone floor bore the evidence of a dragon entering, recent scratches from claws gouging into the rock. Haggar must have brought along a Crasher to help her locate the egg.

 _Great_.

The dragons held muted flames in the backs of their throats, helping the humans to see as they delved further and further from the light of the entrance. All of them were on their toes, weapons clenched in white knuckled holds as they peered into the shadows without trust. But there was no sign of Haggar, and they crawled forward for nigh on ten minutes before reaching their first obstacle.

The tunnel they had been following suddenly widened, dumping them out into a huge room their dragons easily could have flown in. Through the maze of stalactites, four other tunnels were visible in various corners of the cavern, each leading in a different direction.

Lance huffed, the sound echoing through the room. "I don't suppose there's a sign somewhere that says, 'This way to the deadly, ancient dragon egg?'"

"I doubt it." Shiro responded dryly. "To catch up with Haggar in time, we're going to have to split up."

"Of course we are." Katya grumbled, Shiro firmly ignoring her discontent.

"Teams of two. Lotor, you should stay back and make sure no one follows or tries to trap us in."

Shiro fully expected the Prince to wrinkle his nose and insist on a more important job, but to his surprise he merely dips his head and begins retracing their steps back down the tunnel.

Keith volunteers to accompany Shiro down the leftmost passage. Lance and Hunk take the rightmost, leaving the two center tunnels to the Holt siblings and Allura and Coran.

Keith's sword hasn't known the inside of its sheath since he landed on the beach, and that wasn't about to change as they followed their passage deeper into the earth, walking side by side with the dragons trailing behind.

"How are you holding up?" Despite his attempt to keep it quiet, Shiro's voice bounces down the passage ahead of them. Keith rolled his shoulders and adjusted the grip on his sword. The blood decorated his skin like warpaint.

"I'm fine." He answered shortly without so much as a glance in Shiro's direction. "We need to finish this."

"Are you sure? Back there, it was… pretty bloody."

Keith sighed and shook his head. "Shiro, I know what you're trying to do. I appreciate it, really, but is now really the best time to talk about our feelings?"

"Fair point I suppose. Just wanted to check in."

There's a wary silence between them for the next few minutes until the light from their dragons reveals a solid stone wall rearing up before them. Keith scowled at it.

"Dead end." He growled, and Shiro resisted the urge to swear. Keith did it for him.

"Let's head back. Maybe the others had better luck."

They turn to return the way they'd come. Barely a few steps beyond their dragons a sound attracts Shiro's attention- a slight scuttle of pebbles to their left. He and Keith both pause, listening intently. A shadow stirs against the wall, detaches itself from the others. The pebbles scrabble again, the only warning given before something is leaping out at them.

Heart in his throat, Shiro danced backwards to get out of the path of danger. Keith did the opposite, throwing himself at the shadow with his sword up and a shout on his lips.

The shadow dodged to the side, surprisingly agile for it's bulk, grabbing Keith by the shoulder once he was in range and slamming him into the cave wall. Before Shiro can do so much as take a step it's spinning around again, wrenching Keith's sword from his grip and yanking the boy to his chest, the blade dangerously close to his throat.

Shiro's fist clenched when the dragon light revealed the shadows face. It was the man from the ship, the one he'd dropped onto the beach before the battle. He should've killed him.

Keith is snarling, kicking and biting and clawing at the man's arm, but he isn't moved. He sneers over Keith's head at Shiro, taunting.

"Here's how this is going to go." His voice is a hoarse growl. "I'm going to take both of you back to the fleet to be delivered to Emperor Zarkon, and if either of you makes a fuss about it," He presses the blade to Keith's skin until a drop of blood appears, "I'll be taking his esophagus as a trophy."

Shiro would've done it, and he's not sorry for that. Thankfully he didn't have to, because the whole time the man had been talking Keith had been reaching towards his boot, raising his leg to meet his fingers. There's a flash of metal as he pulled the slim knife from the boot. The man doesn't even notice until Keith is sliding it in between his ribs.

The man positively howls, the sound reverberating down the stone hallway as Keith twists around in his grip. Within seconds he has his sword back in his hands and the man is on the floor at his feet with his throat opened.

The whole encounter lasted barely two minutes but leaves Shiro trembling, frantically reaching out for Keith, who had been coated in a fresh wave of warm, sticky blood.

"Keith, Keith, are you-"

"How did he get behind us?" Keith hasn't come down from his adrenaline high, fingers twitching around the hilt of his sword and swiveling on the balls of his feet in preparation for another attack. "Lotor was supposed to be on watch."

"I don't know. We need to get back to the others, there might be other ambushes set up for them."

Shiro wants to pause for a moment, wants to take the time to check Keith over for injuries, but he's already walking away with Red chasing after him like a worried puppy, and Shiro can do nothing but follow.

* * *

"Don't worry, Coran, we'll have a service for your mustache."

Coran sniffled a bit but put on a brave face. "Thank you, Princess, though I daresay we have bigger things to worry about at the moment."

They'd been walking down their selected tunnel for about fifteen minutes now with no hint of an end in sight, although they'd twisted around several curves in their path. Skycracker was so wide he barely fit through the passage, chunks of rock chittering to the floor as his rough hide knocked them loose.

Allura's knuckles are white around her quarterstaff. She doesn't dare let her guard down, not for a second, more than aware that the witch could come melting out of the shadows at any moment. They're approaching another bend in the passage when Coran suddenly stops, reaching out for Allura's elbow to halt her as well.

"Allura, I feel… I must say that I'm nervous having you here. In the midst of battle, against Zarkon's witch, against the Galra."

Allura raised a questioning eyebrow, noting how Coran's eyes rested on the floor rather than on her face.

"It's a bit late for that, isn't it?"

"Yes," Coran conceded, "But ever since you were a little girl, it's been my job to protect you-"

"And it is _my_ job to protect the dragons, and right now, they are more important. If I am ever to be Chief I must learn to lead in times of crisis."

Coran paused, eyes shuttering at whatever thought had crossed his mind.

¨Technically Altea is gone. So according to the law, you are Chief already."

Allura ducks her head, trying to hide the sudden burning in her eyes. "I know, Coran, but I still want to do something after all of this is over. I know how to lead, how to handle dragons. If we can defeat Zarkon, I may be able to bring Viking kind back to the bright times of my father."

Coran laid a light hand on Allura's shoulder, momentarily realizing how often he'd forgotten about the weight she carried there.

"In any case, nothing can be done unless we find this blasted witch. Let us press onward."

Brushing a few wayward tears from her cheeks, Allura rounded the bend. And immediately froze in her steps. Just around the bend their tunnel ended, expanding into a cavern that dwarfed even the room they'd come from. The walls were rounded and smoothed to form a sort of stone dome, the floor clear of any of the formations that had crowded the previous room. And there, in the center atop a pedestal of marble, was a blood red egg bigger than Allura's head.

The top of the egg was decorated in green scales that sparkled in the scarce sunlight beaming through cracks in the ceiling overhead, encircled by several white horn-like protrusions.

"This is it." Allura's voice ricocheted off the walls, coming back on them ten times over. "Signal the others." She's already stepping into the room as she speaks, and by the time Skycrackers cry has faded completely she's at the pedestal, reaching out reverent fingers. The shell is surprisingly warm to the touch, the heartbeat of the tiny life within thrumming through her fingertips. She's just hefted it gently into her arms when she glances up, across to the passage directly behind the pedestal. Her gaze meets a pair of glowing yellow orbs.

Ice coats the interior of her lungs. She takes a step back, then another, before the witch is coming at her superhumanly fast, practically flying across the cavern with an otherworldly screech building in her throat. Allura instinctively turns her back, ready to shield the egg with her torso, but the blow never comes.

Instead she hears a roar she recognizes as Skycracker's, followed by a crash and the clatter of rock falling to the ground. When she dares to raise her head the witch is lying against the far wall, picking herself up after being rammed by Skycracker. The hood on her purple robes has fallen back, revealing a thin, wizened face framed by flowing white hair. Allura begins to retreat towards the passageway they entered from as Coran, mounted on his Thunderdrum, pounces at the witch in an attempt to keep her pinned down.

Yellow, rotting teeth are exposed as Haggar sneers up at them, throwing up an arm. Before their very eyes shadows begin to gather in her open palm, spreading over her body in a dark cloud that Skycracker bounced right off of. The dragon righted itself quickly with a hiss, but Haggar already has her eyes back on Allura and the egg.

Skycracker pounces twice more, trying to slow the witch's advance, but is repelled twice more by the shield of shadows. By now Allura has reached the passage but hesitates at the entrance, unwilling to leave Coran behind. Haggar narrows her eyes and smirks.

"Give up the egg, dragon rider." Her voice is ancient, echoing with the sound of crumbling parchment and the hiss of extinguished flames.

Allura clutches the egg to her chest and snarls, "Never!"

Black lightning strikes the wall next to her with a deafening boom and Allura throws herself to the side. There's a ringing in her ears that prevents her from hearing what happens next, but when the dust clears she doesn't find Haggar above her poised to tear the egg from her grip. Instead she sees Bayard's armored throat as the dragon crouches over her, growling protectively.

There's a crimson blur as Red darts into the room, already lighting herself into a fireball and diving for the witch. Haggar barely seems bothered, disappearing from one spot in a swirl of shadows only to reappear a dozen feet away, dodging and blocking every attack.

"Princess?"

"Shiro!" She readily accepts the hand extended to her, pulling herself to her feet with one arm still firmly locked around the bulky egg. "We must get the egg away from Haggar!"

"As soon as the others get here we'll leave." Shiro promised. He's paler than normal, and there's flesh blood spattered across his tunic, but they really don't have time to talk about it right at that moment. "We can come up with a plan to take down Zarkon another way."

"Here they are!"

Katya and Matt crash into the cavern, Lance and Hunk right on their heels. The riders immediately fall into position, forming a half circle in front of Allura and Shiro, a barrier between them and the witch while Skycracker and Red relentlessly press their attack.

"Riders! Retreat!" Allura calls. Coran wheels Skycracker around to return to the group, Keith yelling for Red and nimbly leaping back into the saddle. He's still facing the witch, as though intending to cover their escape. Allura spins on her heel, ready to lead the riders out of the caves and to safety.

It's been barely a minute since the others arrived, but there is a shadow standing between them and their escape. Two shadows, to be exact.

"Riders." Mused a dark, deep voice, and Allura feels skeletal fingers run down her spine. "How… adorable."

The shadows prowl forward. They don't move as one- rather the second, much larger one jerks just a second behind the first, like an unwilling puppet on it's strings. Allura and the others are forced back as they advance, pinned between the newcomers and the witch at their backs.

The shadow finally steps into the light and Allura's heart shudders to a stop.

It's not so much a man as a hulking beast, two heads taller than she and three times as broad. He's covered from head to toe in sleek black dragon-scale armor (Nightfury, if she had to hazard a guess) and a wickedly sharpened Gronckle iron sword hangs at his side.

"It has been so long since I've fought against other riders." He continued, smirking coldly at the fear wafting from the group. "This will be entertaining, won't it, Night?"

The second shadow reveals itself. Allura wants to cry, and she clutches the egg ever closer to her chest.

The second shadow turns out to be a dragon- snow white, with tall twisted horns extending nearly two feet above it's head. It's silhouette is strange, disrupted by the jumbled jigsaw mess of bones coating the entire beast. With every jerky movement of the dragon's body the bone armor clacked together, a soft deathrattle that echoed unendingly through the cavern.

Bayard reared back from Allura's side, hissing at the new intruder. The other dragons responded in kind, and the riders were too stunned themselves to attempt to comfort them. The dragons knew, they could tell the ghastly dragon was wearing the bones of their brethren with an air of pride, and they couldn't stomach it.

"The Boneknapper." Coran breathed somewhere behind Allura. Suddenly she wants to snap at him, wants to scream, because it's obvious who stands before them now. This is Zarkon, the man who murdered her father and razed her island, slaughtered her people. He stands before her now wearing that insufferable smirk she'd seen more than enough times on the lips of his son, as though she and her riders were nothing more than an amusing diversion, and the insult carved deep.

"Where the hel is Lotor?" Lance shouts angrily, his voice jolting her from her morbid reverie. "Wasn't he supposed to be watching our backs?"

"My son was weak." Zarkon growled in answer as Night leaned menacingly over his shoulder. "He could not stand in my way. And neither can you."

"We'll see about that!"

All Allura has time to think is _Gods be damned, Keith, don't_ \- before the stupid boy and his dragon leapt for Zarkon.

Red landed on the back of the Boneknapper, claws clacking against bones. There's a _crunch_ as she digs her jaws into Night's back, trying to tear the armor away and give her somewhere to strike. Zarkon lifts a hand, almost bored, and Night lets out a bellow.

The dragon bucks violently, tossing Red across the room like a whelp. Keith hits the wall, hard, then the floor. He lies still against the stone, his sword having skittered into a corner when it was thrown from his hand. Red crouches over him, fire huffing from her jaws as though she can't help it as she eyes Zarkon with a murderous glare.

Zarkon laughs, and all Hel breaks loose.

The groups clash, the riders in the center while Zarkon and Haggar attack from either side. The riders are almost entirely focused on Zarkon and his dragon, leaving their backs vulnerable to the witch, which they don't notice until Hunk and Snack block a lightning strike meant for Katya and Matt and slump to the floor with singed hair and scales.

Allura surveys the battle with a certain amount of despair building in her chest. Hunk, Keith, and their dragons are already down. Bayard and Shiro had chosen to go head to head with the leader of the Galra, only Shiro's dodging and Bayard's armor protecting them from being struck down in less than a minute. The Holts and Lance had teamed up to try and take out Zarkon while Shiro distracted him, but their attempts were being thwarted by Haggar's never ending lightning attacks.

Allura knows what she has to do. She shoves the egg at Coran, shouting above the cacophony of roars and battle cries for him to keep it safe. Then, with nothing more than her quarterstaff and a healthy dose of spite, she advanced on the witch.

* * *

Haggar smirks as she watches the Altean Princess approach, jaw clenched and lips thin in determination. The foolish little girl, thinking she could defeat someone as powerful as herself with nothing but a staff? It would be amusing, at the very least.

The princess didn't waste any time taunting or making sweeping, inspirational speeches. She merely threw herself forward, striking overhead with her staff. Haggar side steps easily, dodges the next sideways swing, and plants a kick into the girls ribs. She stumbles two steps and gasps once before whirling, this time trying to trip her with a horizontal sweep at her ankles. Childs play, really.

After two more minutes of this Haggar finds herself frowning. The Altean's moves aren't flustered and desperate the way she expected someone to be when they were in a losing battle. On the contrary, her strikes were measured, carefully calculated. She's measuring Haggar's abilities, trying to predict, trying to spot a weakness. She wouldn't find one, Haggar has spent the last two decades perfecting the art of her magic, there was no way-

The princess lands a blow. It's not hard, barely a tap with the end of her staff, but the fact that she felt it at all was a cause for concern. She'd been tricked, the girl had feinted to the left and struck where she knew Haggar would appear.

Haggar dodges the next two hits, but once again is caught off guard by the princess, this time taking the staff in a hard blow to the gut that has her doubling over. Blue eyes are narrowed over her, taking in every move and thinking twenty ahead like a game of Maces and Talons. The staff is back, sweeping under her feet and this time it works, sending her sprawling to the ground on her back.

Her lightning bolt goes wide, striking the ceiling past the Alteans head. Several singed hairs floated to the ground. The princess strikes her hard in the side, and Haggar lets out a ragged howl as she feels several ribs snap. Given a few minutes to recover she could've forced the bones to knit back together, but as it is she barely has seconds. She raises a gnarled hand, trying to summon up one last lightning bolt. The princess rears back, bringing the staff over her head with both hands. It begins to descend, and everything goes black.

* * *

There's a sickening crack-snap-crunch, and the whole cavern stills. Everyone has turned to face Allura, poised over the crumpled pile of robes that was Zarkon's witch, blood slowly pooling under her staff. Twisted fingers twitch, once, twice, and are still.

Zarkon goes pale. His eyes widen. The other riders shake themselves, prepare to strike-

Night roars, long and loud until everyone in the room is dropping their heads with their hands over their ears, weapons unwillingly clattering to the floor.

Night snaps his jaws- _Clack, clack, clack_ \- and Zarkon is still just standing there, unmoving in his Nightfury armor.

 _Squelch_. Night has finally gotten a mouthful of someone, finally taken his pound of flesh, and he's taken it from his master. Zarkon hangs limply from the jaws of his dragon as Night takes him clear off the floor, torso entirely hidden within the dragon's maw. The Boneknapper stares at the flabbergasted riders for a long moment before angrily shaking his head. Zarkon's armored legs detach and go flying against a nearby wall, blood splattering everywhere and intestines plopping to the floor as Night swallows his torso whole.

"Well." Katya said dimly after a long moment of stunned silence. "Guess that solves that."

The moments following were hollow. The riders made their way out of the cave, carrying their wounded and the egg along with them and saying nary a word. The fight was over, they'd won and they could scarcely believe it was real.

Right before they exited the cave, Lance paused by the edge of the cave entrance and was promptly sick into the sand. Matt was the first one to speak.

"Can we go home now?"


	14. Chapter 14

Krolia sat in her chair staring out at the horizon, a half finished bow in her lap, waiting. Ever since Keith had left on his journey two months ago she had grown despondent, regretting her decision to help him leave with every passing day. She wished she could have kept him safe and sound in their little cabin, protected him from whatever mess he surely got involved in.

It forced her to remember those times back then, when she lived in the Galran web; just her and Culmar. It hurt to think of him most days. How brave he was, how passionate, how much Keith was like him. But mostly it hurt to think of how Culmar assuaged her fears and desires to leave when she was far into her pregnancy, mere weeks before he was executed.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, trying to ignore the tears that were threatening to fall. She listened to the sounds of the forest, felt the cool breeze that washed over her. After many sleepless nights of waiting for a hint of arrival outside the ship makers home, she had grown very sick then they and Hayalson had forced her to stay near home.

Colleen had made the trek up the mountain everyday to tend to her, and they had comforted each other over their missing children. But Colleen had a kind of rabid hope in her eyes, trusting her daughter to fix the horrid situation. Krolia had found it hard to be so optimistic. Although she would admit, being up in the mountains; it was easier not to get so overwhelmed with her fears. It was quiet up here.

She sat vigilant for a few hours more, ignoring when Hayalson came out and tried to bring her inside. She was only distracted when the winds picked up, it was an old but familiar sensation; that of dragons coming in for a landing. She glanced up in terror only to see two dragons, green and red, both nearly the size of her home. She scrambled away from her chair and ran for Hayalson's house, she didn't know why they were her for her but the only riders she knew of came from the Galran empire.

In her panic she tripped, but as she was getting up she heard familiar voices calling out.

"Mom! Mom it's just us!"

"Krolia wait!"

She turned around to see Keith and Shiro dismounting from the dragons, her boys were back home. They were dismounting from the great beasts, and she felt the beginning of angry frantic worry over that, but that didn't matter right now. She ran towards her son and gave him the biggest most bone-crushing hug that she could muster, then she reached out and pulled Shiro into it.

Then Hayalson was rushing out, brandishing a sword but swiftly abandoning it upon seeing the scene.

"Dad!"

"Takashi, you're ok!"

"Well mostly." Krolia and Hayalson both gave Keith an alarmed look, then gasped when Shiro raised what was left of his right arm. "We lost a little something on the journey."

Krolia smacked Keith's arm.

"Jokes aside son I'm just so glad you're here, and alive." Hayalson pulled Shiro into a tight hug and Krolia felt warm and content for the first time in a while. Her family was whole, they were ok.

"Also boys, what's with the dragons?"

"It's a long story dad.."

"But before we tell it I have a gift for you mom." Krolia stares at her son questionly but lets him take her hands, she watches as he takes a deep breath and gasps when he speaks. " _Keiitmaril._ "

Far on the edges of her thoughts Krolia can hear Hayalson reacting as well, Shiro quietly teaching him how to say it. But Krolia is still, then her hands start shaking uncontrollably and she's cupping her little boys face. Holding him close, as she sobs uncontrollably. She's lucky Keith just hugs her in return because her hands are shaking far to bad to sign anything, let alone how unbelievably happy she was.

Finally finally _finally_ her son knew his name. Finally the others in the tribe could call him by his true name. _Finally_ the one thing that made her feel like a terrible mother, that empty useless feeling of being unable to even teach her son his own _name_ was gone. She was still sobbing as she hugged him, her little firebrand, but with one hand she motioned the other two closer. Till all four of them her embracing and rejoicing, she was surrounded by her love for the small family she had created.


End file.
